


Seer

by Sajira (Satsuriku_sama)



Category: Assassin's Creed
Genre: F/M, Grumpy Altaïr
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-03
Updated: 2014-08-03
Packaged: 2018-02-11 15:42:49
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 25,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2073801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Satsuriku_sama/pseuds/Sajira
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I watched my cousin play the game over and over again. Thanks to my strong memory, I remember the whole storyline. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea telling Santa I was a seer. Damn.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

Running, running, running, oh, shit, stone! Trip,  _splat_! Groan… Never mind, running, running, running…I'm home!

"I'M HOOOME!" I yelled out to the kitchen. Mhh, something smells yummy…

"STOP YELLING!" my brother shouted back.

"Guess what I have, Ced! Guess what I HAVE!" I jumped up and down in front of him. "LOOK!" I held the small square box inches from his nose.

"Whu?" He went cross-eyed. "Sis, hold still for a moment!" holding my wrist, he took the box from me. I whined at the loss. "It's just another game, so what?" he handed it back to me disdainfully and went back to cooking. I snatched the small box back and pet it.

"Cedric didn't mean that, the bad man doesn't know your awesomeness…" I cooed to it.

"Go wash your hands, Isis, I'm almost done."

I squealed and dashed up the stairs. I paused for a moment and remembered I forgot to give my brother his 'hello' kiss. I twirled around, and in a not so rare moment of clumsiness, tripped, and went  _splat_  on my face. Again. All with the gracious addition of an earsplitting shriek, of course.

After a few seconds to kill those damn birds flying around my head, I raised my head and spit out a mouthful of dirt and grass.

Wait, what?

Yes, indeedy, dirt and grass. And…sun? Wasn't it just drizzling outside, in trademark London weather? I rolled around and lay awkwardly on my school backpack.

"Yep! Blazing sun! Right in my face, motherfukin' ball of helium!" I groaned and sat up. Looking around, I saw lots of people wearing white. White…white…white…hey is that…no, that's just a stain…

"Hey, you!" I looked up to the most disturbingly tall man I have ever seen. Freak. Or maybe it's because I'm still sitting. Yeah, I guess I should stand up.

I paused when I'm face to stomach with the freakishly tall dude, in a weird sort of bow. This can't be right. I studied the symbol on his belt. Slowly standing up straight, I looked around once again. Every-white-wearing-one is staring at me. I started to hyperventilate. This isn't possible.

"Assassin's Creed?" I wheezed out. The last thing I remember is a startled look on the tall dude's face, and  _my_  face going  _splat_  against the floor.  _Again_.

And you'd think I'd be used to it by now.


	2. Are you insane, old man?

"Ugh…" I woke up to an awful stench. Wrinkling my nose in disgust, I moaned in pain. Great. Another broken nose. Without opening my eyes, I raised both hands, grasping my nose, and with a sickening  _crack_ , put it back in place.

"I was going to mend your nose more gently, there was no need for that." I opened my eyes to see an old man closing a vial containing the awful smelling liquid with a cork. I sat up and looked around. ' _Seems like I'm in a medical room of sorts_ '.

"Who are you?" I asked, accepting the wet rag to wipe the blood off my face.

"My name is Zahir, child. I am the healer. Who are  _you_?"

"I'm Iris." I looked around once more.

"Iris…the master wishes to see you." He turned away.

"The master?" I quirked an eyebrow.

"Yes, yes, yes, go up the stairs into the fortress and up the stairs again." He seemed annoyed. I shrugged and took my back pack from the floor. Taking a deep breath, I started climbing.

I know I passed out because I was hyperventilating. The question is why…

I shielded my eyes from the sudden sun, then I remembered. I tried to stay calm as I passed the oh-so-familiar training grounds of Assassin's Creed. Entering the cool shade of the library, I hurried up the steps. If 'the master' is who I think it is, I don't want to be on the wrong side of his mood. Or blade. Whichever.

"Ah, the strange newcomer." Santa Claus said from behind his desk. I smiled a little at my musings. Santa obviously can't read minds, ( _coughlastyearcough_ ) so he smiled back. "Come, child, tell me why the men keep telling me you fell from the sky." I stepped to where he pointed, a sign of the Creed, and shifted nervously. "Your clothes are most strange. Tell me, child, where do you come from?"

Oh, shit. I have to think quick. I know I'm not dreaming the broken nose was enough proof of that. I can't tell him I'm from the future, or another dimension, he'd have me killed. Fortunately, my decision is interrupted by none other than the star of this show barging in and swearing loudly.

"What is the meaning of this?" Santa frowned at the hooded man.

"I have failed the mission, Master."

' _Hmm_ ,' I think. ' _this is not how the dialogue in the game went. Altair was all submissive and everything…_ ' I snort. ' _submissive_ '.

"Who is that, Master?" Altair turned his head sharply to me.

"Oh, I'm nobody, Altair…" I waved my hand dismissively. In a flash, his hidden blade is at my throat.

"How do you know my name?" he growled.

"Now, now, you wouldn't want to hurt an innocent, would you?" I felt a bead of sweat tickle down my forehead and try desperately to keep a calm face. I have the feeling I'm not succeeding.

"Altair!" Santa barked. "She is right! Stop this nonsense and tell me of your mission!" Altair growled threateningly at me, but turned back to his master.

"Master, I'm afraid Malik and Kadar are dead." He started.

"No, they're not." Oops. Me and my big mouth.

"Excuse me?" Altair turned slowly towards me.

"Um…well, Malik just lost an arm…and Kadar's being held captive by the Templars…" I drifted off…damn! How am I going to explain this?

"You speak nonsense!" Altair growled at me. What is he, an animal?

"I do, do I?" I sat sideways on the banister behind me and crossed my arms. "Look behind you."

"Master…" Malik is clutching his bloodied arm while another assassin brings a golden…thing. Altair whirled around to face me.

"How…"

"I'm psychic!" I squeaked before his blade gets to my neck again.

"You're psychic?" Santa looked interested. Altair looked pissed. Oh, shit.

"Yes, but not to everything. Just some very few selected events." I quickly try to shorten my range of 'knowledge'. "Like, how Robert de Sable is going to attack Masyaf in a few momen—"

"Master!" another assassin comes running in. "We are under attack!" I gave Altair my best I-told-you-so look. "Robert de Sable lays siege to Masyaf's village!"

Santa (I  _have_  to stop calling him that…) quickly laid out orders while Altair stepped closer to me.

"If you can truly see the future, tell me what the outcome of this battle is." He said lowly. I gulped and stuttered.

"Y-you're going to cut loose some logs, an-and…um…get demoted."

"You lie. I would never get demoted. I'm head assassin." He hissed in my face.

"Well, then I'm not a psychic." I shrugged nervously. I can only see the lower half of his face, and gulped when he grinned. I'd rather have him feeling high and mighty than my guts decorating the walls, thankyouverymuch.

"Altair! Pay attention!" Santa called him. "You, girl, will go with Malik to Zahir." I nodded and followed the blood trail back to the infirmary. Outside, people are already running around like headless chickens. I dashed to the infirmary, where Malik is currently getting his arm clobbered off.

"Girl!" Zahir called to me. "Put something in his mouth so he doesn't bite his tongue off!" I looked around. There are only bloody scraps of cloth lying around. A light bulb goes off in my brain. I quickly toss my backpack down and retrieve my anatomy book. Stupid thick thing finally has a purpose other than pillowing my head in class. I stuck the edge of it in Malik's mouth and watched him bite down hard. A moment later, I hear a  _thud_ , and feel blood squirt across my face. Malik screamed around the book and started to flail.

"Ei, ei, ei!" I grabbed his other arm and forced his fingers around mine. He squeezed hard and a tear left his eye. "I know, I know, it'll all be over soon…" I cooed to him. Thank god I volunteered at the hospital back home. I'm in med school, so we have to do these kinds of jobs. I don't like it, because we learn how to operate and stuff on people who don't have enough money to afford a decent doctor. I know how violent people can get, especially if they don't have anesthetics. It's a shame, really, just because they're poor, doesn't mean they don't feel pain…

Anyway! Malik keeps looking at me while Zahir does his magic. Moments later, his eyes start to droop and I removed the book from his mouth. I looked at the teeth marks on the hardcover. Oh, well, at least it's prettier now. I shrugged, tossing it next to my bag and looked back at Malik. I wiped away that one tear that dared to escape.

"I heard what you told master." I stiffened. Great. Now all the assassins will form a line to know their futures. "Do you know of my brother?" he asked.

I take a shaky breath in, shake my head and squeeze his hand. He probably understood, since he squeezed my hand back and looked at the ceiling. I see fresh tears start to form on the corners of his eyes.

"It's okay to cry…" I said softly to him.

"You speak in such a different way." Okay, obvious change of subject… "Where are you from?"

"I…can't say." Let's go with the mystic thing. He nodded.

"Girl!" Zahir yelled over to me. "Keep the patients calm. You obviously have the knowledge to do that." I noticed he is stressed. Many other men are being tended by him. I tagged along the bustling old man and freshened up my memory of what to do with the patients. Soon, the noise outside died down and Zahir finished the last patient.

I dare to venture outside, and see one of my favorite scenes in the game. Altair is being held by two other assassins, and Santa is stabbing him. Aww, I missed the speech. When Altair crumbled to the floor, Santa nodded to me and waved for me to come closer. I looked around. There's no one next to me, so I tilted my head and pointed to my chest in question. He nodded again.

We climb the steps in silence until Santa is behind his desk. I see all of Altair's weapons already on the table.

"So, you demoted him?" I asked.

"You seem to be true to your word, Seer." He picked one of the throwing knives up and inspected it.

"I have a name…" I mumbled, eying the knife warily. "I'm Isis."

"Well, Isis, I suppose you already know what I'm going to do?" Aha. He wants to know if I know he's a Templar. I decided to play dumb.

"You're sending Altair after nine Templars."

"Yes, but what about you?"

"As I said earlier, I can only see very few selected scenes." I wondered if he'd have me killed.

"I think you would do well in the brotherhood." He stroked his beard.

"Aren't women forbidden in the brotherhood?"

"Not one with such powers as yourself…" ew, I feel like a piece of meat, stop staring at me, Santa!

"So…"

"So you will be accompanying Altair in his quest."

I gaped at him.

"What? Are you  _insane_ , old man?"

"Still your tongue, child!" he barked at me.

"The heck I will!" I barked right back. "I'm not going to risk my neck for someone who wants to slit it!"

"You will do as I tell you, child, or do you think the rest of the village will see your powers as a gift? They will fear it, and kill you, child." Oh fuck. Great. I depend on freaky Santa now.

"Fine!" I yelled, and whirled around to make my way to the infirmary. Storming past the guards, I startle Malik by barging into the infirmary.

"What happened?" he asked me. I notice he's fine enough to sit already.

"Nothing." I stormed past him and put my book back in my bag.

"I don't believe you." He said. I glared at him. "Tell me."

"Why do  _you_  want to know?" I snapped. ' _Shut up, Isis, it's not him you're mad at._ ' Berating myself was never my strong point.

"Because…" he said in the same tone, but then softened it. "You helped many men today, including me." I looked at him from my spot on the floor. "Thank you." He bowed his head slightly.

"S'okay…" I mumbled. I looked down and start rummaging in my bag for something useful. "Aha!" I victoriously held my hairbrush up.

"What is that?" Malik stared at the shockingly orange thing.

"It's a hairbrush." I demonstrate. Ow, knots, ow, ow, ow…

"It looks painful…" he frowned at me. I ignored him and kept rummaging in my bag. Hairband…hairband…yes! I put it in my mouth and started pulling my hair back with the aid of my small brush into a ponytail. Snapping the elastic firmly in place and pushing my bangs to the side and behind my ear, I continued emptying my bag.

"Please stop staring, Malik…" I mumbled, shivering at the feeling of his eyes on me. I hate that. My teacher always does it to me.

"Your hair is so different…" I stifled a chuckle. I suppose that the red hair dye I used was a bit more shocking than I intended. "And the things in your bag…"

I sighed and looked up at him. I handed him the bitten book.

"Here. Have fun."

He looked through the pages.

"I can't understand what's written here."

"Why not?" I continued emptying the books out of my bag. "It's English."

"You speak English?" I paused. Maybe the game is translating everything… "And you can read and write?" oh, shit, yeah, I forgot, the whole 'women are scum' stuff back in this period…damn I need to find some time to think everything straight.

"It's normal where I come from." I stacked the books in a corner and put only my notebook, pencil case, wallet and brush back in my bag.

"And you're not telling me where that is?" Malik looked curiously at the other books. I put the stack on his bed, next to him.

"Sorry, no can do."

"Ugh…" I see a mound of meat stir. I shrieked and fell on my backside. Malik burst out laughing and Zahir came in carrying a tray.

"Finally, you're back. I need to tend to him, please keep him from hitting me."

"I ain't goin' nowhere near  _that_." I pointed to Altair. He might be groggy, but he's not exactly my fan…

"You were strong enough to hold Abbas down, you can hold Altair when he's inebriated, girl…" Zahir began poking a thread through a needle. Well, here goes…

I walk over to Altair's head and look at him upside down. I grin in response to his scowl.

"Hey, handsome." I heard Malik snort behind me. "What? He is…" I laughed. ' _Yeah, just keep going like that. Stroke his ego, and keep him from hitting you or Zahir_ '.

He hissed and I looked up to see Zahir applying what I learned to be a disinfectant. God, the middle ages are worse than the poor's hospital. I pulled his arms back and to the sides. Leaning over him, I rested my hands on his biceps to weigh him down an—oohhh, muuuscllleees… I softly squeeze his arms and let my eyes roam over his bare torso. His chuckle brings me back down from hentai dreamland. He looked up at me with a cocky smirk.

"You keep those breasts on my face and I promise I won't move…"

A loud crunch later, Malik is laughing his other arm off, I have a sore fist, and Zahir is happily sewing away at a broken-nosed Altair. Currently out cold, courtesy of little ol' me.

"Well, they are rathe—"

"One word, Malik. One word about my breasts and you get the same." I held my fist to my stomach and bent over it. "Fuck!" I breathe out.

"He does have a hard head."

"Tell me about it." I wheezed.

"Why de fug did you do dat?" Altair's nosy voice interrupted us.

"What are you doing up? I knocked you out…" I whined, letting Zahir spread a cooling salve on my knuckles.

"You dink a brogen nose will leabe me bassed out for long, girl?" Altair sat up and gingerly touched his face. I sighed and see his side is stitched and wrapped. Go, me!

"Here, let me." I walked over to him and stretched my hands out.

"I'b fine." He turned his head away.

"Of course you are." I pinched the back of his knee and pulled the tendon. Ha. I love doing that. When he snapped his head back to me, I quickly yanked his nose back in place.

Slipping behind Malik and out of the mad-man-in-white's reach, I grinned.

"You both are being called to the Master." Zahir told us while he put his utensils away.

I grumbled at being told to go up and down those steps. I waved goodbye to Malik and told him to keep the books, much to his delight. Altair and I make our way up to Santa. ' _You know, I actually think Santa is just a fat, drunk, sad guy who lives in his mom's basement and eats little children…or Michael Jackson…or Orochimaru…or Al Mualim… Hey, it IS Al Mualim!_ ' I gasped audibly at my thoughts. Altair looked back over his shoulder at me. Damn, he has his hood back up and I can't see his face. I hate that.

"What's going to happen now?" he asked, slowing down so that he is no longer walking in front of me, but at my side.

"Oh, so  _now_  you want to know?" I replied, crossing my arms.

"Don't mess with me, girl…" he growled. Oh, yay, back to his moody self.

"You get a list of nine men to kill!" I squeaked in fear. He humphed.

We arrive back at the desk, where Santa is looking at us as if he's contemplating which one of us he should eat first. He started his long speech and I drifted off, uninterested, watching a spider make a web. Right there, on that corner. Until I hear my name being called.

"Isis, are you paying attention?" Santa called angrily to me.

"No…" I continued watching the spider.

"Altair, please explain everything again to her…" he pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. Altair glared at me and we leave the library. Outside, he turned to me and explained that there has probably been a spy in Masyaf, and blahblahblah…

"…so we need to f—"

"Find the basket weaver." I stated boredly.

"What?"

I sighed as I closed my eyes and remembered my cousin playing the game, over and over again.

"The basket weaver exchanges letters with someone. I don't know the details, I just know you have to pickpocket him."

After a moment of watching me, Altair started walking to the gate. "Alright."

We encountered a novice, and he starts to tell Altair of how the Creed works, and the three laws…

"Oh, for fuck's sake, we know, okay?" I shoved past him and pull Altair's sleeve.

"Thank you for that." He mumbled.

"Oh, he was getting on my nerves anyway…" I waved my hand dismissively. Then my eyes zeroed in on the black and white beads adorning my wrist. "Maybe I should wait inside…" I looked down at my black Nikes, white (but now dirty) jeans, and washed black T-shirt.

"You do stand out." Altair took one of my bracelets and pulled it. The elastic band with beads rolled off my wrist and snapped on his fingers. "Ow." He let it fall. I snorted and picked it up again.

"Go pickpocket the basket weaver, then you have to interrogate someone." I turned back to the fortress.

"No more help than that?" Altair waved his arms around.

"Sorry, I'm still mad at you." I shrugged and jogged away before he can answer. I sprinted up the steps back to Santa, and dodged a scroll thrown at my head.

"What are you doing here?" he frowned at me.

"Nice to see you too!" I put the scroll on his desk. "I need new clothes." I gestured to myself.

"Go see the women." He said dismissively. A servant comes and motions for me to follow him. I do, and he leads me to the pretty garden. I stared absentmindedly at the falling feathers and the twinkly things. I grab one, and see it's a seed, and that its oily skin reflects the sun. The servant clears his throat and I continue following him to the other side of the garden. Many women surround me as the servant explains what Al Mualim sent us for. They quickly pulled me to another room and start throwing robes on top of my clothes and yanking them off, and sewing, then putting them on me again, then—ohh, my head.

In an instant, I am pushed outside with a custom made robe in my arms.

"Huh." I unfolded it and pulled it over my head. The servant hands me a red cloth and a belt. He bows and leaves me alone. I carry the things to a bench and slowly figure out how to dress in them. I heard a door squeak and turned around to find a woman walking towards me.

"I'm sorry, my sisters were a little afraid of you. I can help." She pointed to the messy red around my waist.

"Yes, please." I laughed. "Why were they afraid?" I held my arms out as she tied the cloth around my waist properly.

"I heard them saying you were a witch." She laughed. "Nonsense."

I looked up to one of the fortress' windows and see Al Mualim watching us.

"Yeah…nonsense…"

"My name is Ghada, by the way."

"What? Oh! I'm Isis." I smiled as Ghada steps back from me and looked at my outfit. My white jeans don't look so out of place with the assassin robes, and my dirty Nikes look like boots anyway, so I guess I can walk around unnoticed now. We say goodbye and I entered the library, to encounter Altair dragging a man up the stairs.

"Thanks for the tip." He huffed as I walked alongside him.

"No problem."

Santa once again goes on and on and on and on, until he shuts up and kills the guy. I wrinkle my nose in disgust. I'm used to seeing blood, having worked with the most coldblooded doctors on earth, but still, seeing someone be  _killed_ …that's just not my thing…

The list is given, and we take proviant from the kitchens for the ride to Damascus to kill Tamir.

"Can you ride?" Altair asked me as we made our way to the stables.

"Yes." I replied curtly. I'm still not keen on having to go with him. At least things will go faster, now that I'm here, and I can shorten the game. But, then again, there is the unfortunate addition of real timeflow. Damn.

"How long does it take to get to Damascus?" I asked.

"About two days."

I groaned and thumped my head against a white horse's neck. It neighed unappreciatively.

"Why?" Altair saddled it.

"I get bored easily." I waved him away when he comes closer, probably trying to help me on the horse. I clumsily do it myself. He snorted.

"Perfect." He crossed his arms over his chest. "Now get down, that's my horse."

"And now it's mine."

I screamed when he pulled my leg, making me fall. He jumped on 'his' horse and chuckled. I grumbled as I chose another one and picked the softest looking saddle I could find.

"You're not actually riding  _that_  horse, are you?" he pointed to the black one I chose.

"I was gonna…" I put the saddle on said horse's back. It snorted. "Why?"

"Because that's Al Mualim's horse."

"Ohhh…" I quickly changed my mind and put the saddle instead on another horse.

"That's Abbas' horse." I can just hear the grin in his voice.

I take a deep breath in, hold it for five seconds, and breathe slowly out.

"Then which horse do you suggest?"

He pointed to a white mare in the corner. After I correctly put the saddle in place (with a few instructions from Altair), I put my foot in the stirrup.

It's actually not so hard, you just have to remember western movies!

"Pull your hood up." Altair said while he trots away.

"Pull your hood up…" I mimicked, following him.


	3. Buttcheeks

We rode through the kingdom. In our silence, I thought about how I could go back home. What if I finished the game? But…what if I died? Would I wake up in some Animus in my living room? Maybe if I kept pretending to be psychic, Altair will get the assassinations done, and…but Al Mualim is supposed to die too. Shouldn't I just tell Altair to kill  _him_? But he wouldn't believe me. I have to gain the assassin's trust to tell him that. And I have to be careful with what I say, or all of this could backfire.

"Are you listening to me?" Altair's voice brought me back from my musings.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"I was asking how you know everything."

"I'm psychic." I said as if it were the most obvious thing on earth. "And I don't know  _everything_. Just  _some_  things."

"What's going to happen in Damascus?"

"You're going to have to find out for yourself, if I weren't here, you wouldn't have this information." I spat at him. That was for being a jerk to me.

"Al Mualim sent you with me so that my targets can be killed at a faster pace." Altair bent his head low and I followed suit, averting my gaze from the guards passing us. When they were out of earshot, he continued. "So tell me, woman!"

"First of all, I have a name." I pouted. "And second, you're not getting anything from me until you're nicer."

Altair steered his horse close to mine and I heard a  _shlink_ , followed by something cold pressing against my throat. He leaned close to me and hissed in my ear:

"You would do wise to tell me what you know now, woman, and I might spare your life…"

"You can threaten me all you want, birdie." I tried desperately to keep the shaking from my voice. "If you kill me, you don't get any information, and Al Mualim's not gonna be pleased."

He growled in frustration and slid his blade back in its sheath by his forearm. I sighed in relief and kept following him.

I was yanked from admiring the sunset when Altair slowed his horse down and guided it off the path.

"What are you doing?" I followed him.

"We'll rest here for the night." He replied curtly. I looked around the spot he chose. It was well secluded from the road, but not so far enough that we wouldn't hear someone approaching. High bushes hid us and our horses from view. I watched as Altair threw two thick blankets at my feet and turned to collect dry twigs from the bushes. I rolled the blankets out and laid them a good distance away from each other. I sat on a flat stone near the fire Altair had started, and watched him mix flour, spices and water together on a small mat and create a light beige dough. He handed half of it to me.

I took it and studied it curiously. After watching Altair stick his dough on a stick and hold it over the fire, I mimicked him. When it was golden-brown, and smelling like home cooked bread, I looked over at Altair. He was staring at the fire, his eyes unfocused.

"Altair?" I called. He seemed to come crashing back to earth, and looked at me.

"What?" he snapped.

"Your bread is burning." I pointed. He was so engrossed in his thoughts, his grip on the stick had loosened, making it lower more into the flames.

He swore and quickly pulled it out of the fire. I raised my own one and started to blow on it, watching him contort his face in disgust at the burnt taste and at the heat burning his mouth. I took pity on the poor guy and parted my now pleasantly warm bread and gave him one of the halves. The smaller one, of course. My kindness only reached to certain limits…

I cleared my throat, making him look at me. I stretched my arm out and held the bread in his face. He looked at it for a moment, then turned away.

"I don't need your help."

"If you didn't need my help, I wouldn't be here." I nudged his arm with the piece of bread. He ignored me. "For fuck's sake, Altair, take the damn bread!"

He snatched it violently from my fingers and stuffed it in his mouth. I took his burnt share and started peeling off the black layer. There was only half of the dough left that could be eaten, and I tore it in two and handed a half to Mr. Grumpypants.

He mumbled a thanks around the bread and I sighed. If I was going to win his trust, I would have to be very patient. Veeery paaatient. But that could wait until tomorrow. I crawled over to one of the blankets and flopped down on it. Rolling to face the sky, I watched the stars twinkle. The last thing I remember before falling asleep was a shuffle beside me and a grunt.

* * *

The sun shone through my eyelids. I turned my head away from the light and opened my eyes. Altair was still asleep. Sitting up, I admired the last moments of the sunrise. I kicked dry earth into the small embers of our dying fire and rolled up my blanket. I made as much noise as I possibly could, scuffing my feet, and talking to the horses. But still, Altair remained asleep. Damn. I was hoping he would wake up to all the noise I was making, sparing me the task of waking him  _myself_.

"Altair." I called from next to the horses. Nothing. "Altair." I called louder. Sighing, I stepped closer to him, until my shadow touched his feet. "Altair!" Damn, shouldn't an assassin be more wary of their surroundings? I stepped forward and nudged his foot with my own. "Wake up!"

In a flash, he stood up, shoved me away, making me fall on my butt and held his sword to my throat.

"It's me, it's me!" I squeaked, pressing myself against the ground, and away from shiny, sharp and deadly. Altair untensed and sighed.

"Next time just call me!" he sheathed his sword.

"I did!" I scrambled up. "You sleep like the dead…" I turned away to the horses and mounted it.

"Off." Altair was standing next to my knee, holding his blanket under his arm.

"What?"

"My horse. Off."

I rolled my eyes and changed horses. We continued on our way to Damascus, occasionally galloping through empty ways, or blending in when guards were nearby.

"How long 'till we reach the city?" I moaned loudly.

"Two hours." He replied. We had been silent all the way here, hearing his voice was nice after all the void. He still seemed rude, though.

"I can't feel my butt anymore…" I whined. Altair coughed.

"Anyway." He said, turning his head to look at me. "What's going to happen?"

I glared at him from under my hood and kept silent.

"Well, woman?"

"My  _name_ …is Isis." I hissed. "And you're not getting anything out of me until you learn to be nice." I crossed my arms and let my horse take its own route. Altair stretched his arm out and took the reins, forcing them into my hands again.

" _Isis_ ," he said, and I could hear in his voice that he was straining to not to yell at me. "behave, and you shall keep all your fingers." When he pulled back, he ran his rough forefinger over my knuckles. I gulped.

We turned a corner and Damascus came into sight. I almost squealed at the thought of feeling my buttcheeks again. We tied the horses to a stack of hay and Altair looked around the front gate.

"Go with them. I'll meet you inside." He pointed to a group of scholars and darted off to the side of the city walls and started to climb. I rushed to the scholars and clasped my hands as if in prayer, following amongst them until we were inside. I heard a grunt above me, and Altair landed in front of me, inches from my face. I refrained from squeaking in surprise.

"Did I scare you?" he taunted.

"Of course you did." I laid my hand on my eyes. "Have you  _seen_  how ugly you are? Then again the mirror might have broken before you looked in it properly…" I yelped as my arm was grasped firmly and I was yanked through the crowds.

"Ow, Altair, let me go, ow, ow," I had to jog to keep pace with his long legs. "Hey, don't you know what 'ow' means? It means I'm probably in pain, and would like you to let me go!" I tried to pull my arm away, but he only gripped it tighter. A moment later, he threw me at a ladder.

"Up." He growled. I gulped and rushed up the ladder. A moment later, we were standing on a caged roof, where a hole was waiting for us.

"Down." I heard him growl.

"Say please." I crossed my arms and narrowed my eyes at him.

"Fine, stay outside." He jumped into the hole and disappeared through a door on the other side of the room.

"Altair!" I called. Nothing. "Altair, I can't get down by myself!" I whined. "And I still can't feel my butt!" the Rafiq chose that exact moment to come out and look up at me. His face was torn between amusement and disbelief.

"Hi, Rafiq!" I waved at him.

"Hello." He waved back, amused. "Are you the Seer Master told me of?" he asked.

"I'd tell you if I could get down there…" I looked at the fountain right underneath me.

"Altair, help the girl." The Rafiq called to the Assassin. He sighed and walked to stand right underneath me.

"Will you tell me what happens?" he looked up at me, making his hood fall back, revealing his face.

"Ohh, that's a nasty scar you got there on your lip." I pointed. "And, no, I won't because you're not being nice!" I sat on the edge of the hole in the roof and dangled my legs.

I didn't see Altair jump, but I did feel his hand grasp my ankle, and I  _did_  feel the floor welcoming my face back. I felt it very much.

"Altair!" the Rafiq yelled at the assassin.

"She's down here, isn't she?" Altair waltzed back into the room in the back.

"I feel sorry for you having to travel with him." The Rafiq helped me up. Fortunately, I turned my face when I fell, so now I just had a purple cheek, instead of a broken nose.

"That's okay." I winced as I meekly touched my cheek. "And to answer your question, yes, I'm psychic, but not to everything."

"And that's why you're stuck with Altair." He led me to the back room and stepped behind his counter.

"Precisely." I accepted a salve and spread it over my cheek. It smelled strongly of herbs and grass. I welcomed the cool feeing on my sore cheek.

"Since she won't help me, like she was instructed to," Altair glared at me. "will you tell me where I can find Tamir?"

"Before we talk, Altair, is it true, that you have been demoted back to a novice?" Altair remained quiet. "I'm sorry for your trouble."

"Think nothing of it."

"A few brothers of yours were here earlier, in fact. Oh...if you'd heard the things they'd said...I'm certain you would have slain them where they stood."

"It's quite alright." Altair replied through his teeth. I slowly inched away.

"Yes…" The Rafiq shuffled through some books. "You've never been one for the Creed, have you?"

"Is that all?" Altair slammed his fist on the counter. I squeaked, but the Rafiq seemed unbothered.

"I'm sorry...sometimes I forget myself. What business brings you to Damascus?"

"A man named Tamir. Al Mualim takes issue with the work he does. I'm meant to end it. Now tell me where to find him!"

"Even with your lovely acquaintance," the Rafiq smiled flirtatiously at me, and I felt my cheeks warm (or at least the healthy one did), "surely you remember how to track an enemy…"

"Of course! Learn where he will be and when. But that sort of work is best left for…" he paused. The Rafiq raised an eyebrow. "I understand."

"Go and search the city for information"

"What can you tell me of him?" Altair tried to coax some info out of the Rafiq.

"Tamir makes his living as a black market merchant. So the souk district should be your destination. I suggest you seek out the following places: a small souk to the east of here. And in the gardens north of this bureau. Focus on these places and it should become well-known to you." The Rafiq handed a small map to Altair.

"I assume you want me to return to you when this is done."

"Yes. Come back to me. I'll give you Al Mualim's marker, and you'll give us Tamir's life."

"As you wish." Altair pocketed the map.

"Remember, Altair, if you find yourself in trouble, and the city turned against you, return to the Bureau. I can shelter you from the storm. Be warned though, if your enemies are too close, the door will remain closed, until you've lost them. Do you understand?"

"Yes. To bring the enemy inside would compromise the Brotherhood." Altair nodded.

"Very well. Off you go." He waved us away.

Back on the roof (I seem to be better at climbing than at falling…) Altair took out the map and looked around.

"Altair…" I reached for the map, but he yanked it away.

"If you're not going to help me, then I'll do everything myself." He snapped. "You can stay with the Rafiq."

"Fine." I spat. "But don't come back to me when you can't find him!" I yelled at his retreating back. In my anger, I forgot I had a hole behind me, so when I stomped away, I fell straight on the fountain, drenching my robes.

The Rafiq came running in, looking alarmed at my yelling and swearing. I managed to get out of the fountain, and started unbuckling my belt and the small knife I had at my waist. Why did they even give me a weapon? I'd just make a fool of myself and kill Altair, instead of Templars…

"Are you alright?" he asked through a grin.

"Dandy…" came the muffled response. I was having trouble getting my robes off, they were stuck on my necklace, and I didn't want to break the chain. "Little help over here?" I called.

I felt fingers fumbling with my chain on the back of my neck, and soon, I was free of the robe.

"You clothes are so strange…" the Rafiq looked at my wet t-shirt. Thank my fashion-sense that it was black…I grunted and laid my robe on the edge of the fountain to dry in the sun. "I suppose you'll stay here until Altair returns?"

"I suppose…" I looked up to the hole in the roof. "You wouldn't have anything to eat, would you?" I asked over the racket my stomach was making. The Rafiq laughed and led me to the back room. In the game it always looked so empty, but there was a little kitchen on the other side from where the counter was, and a pot was bubbling happily on it.

"I'm almost done making lunch." He pointed. I nodded and sat on the counter, swaying my feet back and forth, until the meal was ready.

As we ate, I explained to the Rafiq the story I had told Al Mualim and Malik, that I was from somewhere else I couldn't say, and that my visions are of very selected few events. I also asked him about 'this world', as I called it, and he explained me the customs, and the people, like one would do to a tourist. I guess that's what I am…in a way.

* * *

A thump outside averted our attention to Altair coming in. he glared at me, but turned to the Rafiq, who smiled at him.

"Altair! Welcome, welcome!"

"I've done what you asked. Now give me the marker."

"First things first. Tell me what you know."

"Tamir rules over the Souk Al-Silaah. He makes his fortune selling arms and armor. He's the largest death-dealer in the land." He sent me a smug look as if to tell me he did it all by himself. I raised an eyebrow and started lazily clapping.

"And have you devised a way to rid us of this blight?" the Rafiq said loudly, bringing Altair's attention back to him.

"A meeting is being arranged at Souk Al-Silaah to discuss an important sale. They say it's the largest deal Tamir has ever made. He'll be distracted with his work. That's when I'll strike.

"Your plan seems solid enough. I give you leave to go." He places a feather on the table and Altair takes it.

"Let Al Mualim's will be done. You may rest here until you are ready." He turned away from the Assassin and started cleaning the dishes.

I followed Altair to the outer room and saw him sprawled out on the cushions. I knelt down next to him. He pretended to be asleep.

"Altair." I nudged his side with my knee. He opened one eye and glared at me. I ignored it and bent a little towards him, eying the door warily. "I can tell you something."

"Of course you can." He closed his eye again. "But I already have all the information I need."

"Not all of it." I leaned back on my heels and acted aloof. "But since you don't want to hear it…" I made to stand up, but he grabbed my wrist. I looked at him with a grin. "Interested now?" his expression didn't change, but his grip became tighter. "Okay, first you have to let me go." He hesitantly did. "Now, when you see Tamir, he will be arguing with a merchant." I explained. "Tamir will want to stab the merchant, but if you intervene  _then_ , Tamir's back will be turned, allowing you to kill him quickly,  _and_  you can save the merchant."

Altair kept looking at me. I raised my eyebrows, waiting for a response.

"We'll see if you really are a seer." He settled his hands back behind his head and closed his eyes. I huffed and stood up, choosing to help the Rafiq with whatever he did.


	4. Cheshire Cat

The bells were ringing not one hour after Altair left for his assassination. I smirked to myself and rolled on my stomach, watching the shadows of the birds perching on the cage like structure of the roof. Sure enough, said assassin dropped down moments later, unscratched.

I grinned at him and rolled on my back, craning my head back to watch him upside-down. I felt like the Cheshire Cat.

"A seer indeed." He smiled.

Wait, did he just smile? He must have noticed my expression, because the next moment, his scowl was firmly back in place.

"You could have helped me sooner." He snapped.

"If you're nice, I'll tell you about Garnier de Naplouse in Acre…" I sang.

"Word has reached me of your victory, Altair! You have my gratitude, and my respect." The Rafiq interrupted us.

"Thank you." Altair bowed his head slightly and gave him the bloodied feather.

"It is a shame that the other Assassins continue to hold you in such low regard."

"Rafiq. I do not care what the others think of me."

"...as you wish, Altair. You should bring news of your victory to Al Mualim. I'm sure he has more work for you to do." He took the marker and went back to the back room.

I was still lying on my back, looking at Altair upside-down.

"You were saying?" he turned to me.

"What was I saying?" I put my finger on my chin in mock thought.

"Where should I go next?" Altair growled.

"I told you…" I yawned and closed my eyes. "You have to be  _nice_  to me…" I put my hands behind my head, just like he did to me earlier.

' _The Cat only grinned when it saw Alice. 'It looks good-natured', she thought. Still it had very long claws and a great many teeth, so she felt that it ought to be treated with respect._ ' I recited in my mind. Then again, Altair has a very long sword, and a great many throwing knives, and I also feel he ought to be treated with respect. Or fear. And as much as I like my long, polished nails, I doubt they'll do much good against the assassin.

"Would you tell me,  _please_ , which way I ought to go from here?" Altair sat down a few feet from my head. ' _At least he didn't call me Cheshire Puss…_ '

"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to." ' _said the Cat._ ' I'm enjoying this waaay too much…

"I don't much care where—" said Alice. I mean…Altair.

"Then it doesn't matter which way you go." I closed my eyes again and imagined my head bobbing in midair.

"—so long as I get to  _kill_   _someone_ …" Altair added as an explanation. ' _okay, that was a little different from the story I had in mind…_ '

"Oh, you're sure to do that…" I opened my eyes again and imagined Altair in a blue dress. "If you only walk long enough."

Altair's upside-down face wasn't finding this as amusing as I was, so I decided to honor Lewis Carroll's words quickly before I have a knife in my throat.

"Al Mualim will leave two options open for you to choose which assassination you wish to do first." I grinned as widely as I could manage and held my right hand out, as if offering something. "If you go to Acre, Garnier de Naplouse awaits your blade." I held my left hand out. "If you go to Jerusalem, Talal shall be the one to die first." I held both my hands away from each other and shrugged. "Visit either you like, they're both mad."

"But I don't want to go among mad people…" Altair murmured more to himself than anything else.

"Oh, you can't help that." I grinned even wider at him. My cheeks were going to hurt later. "We're all mad here. I'm mad…you're mad…"

Maybe calling Altair mad wasn't such a good idea.

"Why do you call me mad, woman?"

"You must be." Ow, my cheeks were already cramping. "Or you wouldn't have believed in what I told you about Tamir and the merchant…"

' _The Rafiq didn't think that proved it at all; however, he went on:_ ' I changed the words in my mind. "And how do you know that  _you're_  mad?" he asked from the door. Altair and I looked over to him.

"To begin with," I raised my finger. "a dog's not mad. You grant that?"

"I suppose so."

"Well, then." I went on, "You see, a dog growls when it's angry, and wags its tail when it's pleased. Now I growl when I'm pleased, and wag my tail when I'm angry. Therefore, I'm mad."

"You don't have a tail." Altair crossed his arms over his chest and looked down at me.

I couldn't hold it in anymore. I burst out laughing and clutched my sides in pain. Both men just looked at me in confusion.

"I'm convinced that she's mad." I heard the Rafiq say over my shrieks of laughter. "But she is indeed a seer." He handed a rolled up scroll to Altair. "Al Mualim sent this letter. You need not report to him. He gave you the choice of either going to Acre, or Jerusalem."

Slowly, my shrieks died down to low chuckles and a silly grin. I was still on my back, my feet propped up on the wall. I stretched my hand out and pulled a pillow under my head.

"Where would you like to go?" I asked Altair.

"Shouldn't  _you_  tell me that?" he said as he read the letter.

"You have your own free will, Altair." I explained.

"But you're a seer."

"I  _told_  you." I sighed and rolled over on my stomach, facing away from him. "I'm not a  _total_  seer, I can only see  _some_  things. Like, I don't know if you're going to take that answer, or stick a blade through my throat."

As those words left me, I realized that this was no longer a game I was playing. This was actually real, and I could  _die_. The thought of death never really bothered me, maybe because I was safe in the 21st century. But now, I felt cold, despite the afternoon sun shining down on us, and the stuffy air of the city…

Altair must have had his master assassin skillz turned on high, because he rolled up the letter and sighed.

"I'm not going to kill you, girl."

"Isis."

"Isis." I could feel his eyes on the back of my head. I rolled over again so that I was looking back at him.

"What?"

"I'm not going to kill you." He said.

"I heard you the first time…" I closed my eyes and breathed deeply. "I was just wondering how to get home…"

"Where do yo—"

"Can't tell you." I interrupted him.

He sighed and stood up. I faintly heard him and the Rafiq talking, and I let their muffled voices lull me to that perfect state of mind, where you're not exactly sleeping, but awareness is  _just_  out of reach. The shadows on the floor were moving rapidly, as if someone hit fast-forward, then the smell of heated food, and the feeling of someone shaking my shoulder made me fall back to earth. 'Fall', as in 'plummeted-from-a-very-highflying-airplane-with-no-parachute' type of 'fall'. I jerked so violently, my head made contact with the Rafiq's chin.

"Ooowww…" I clutched the top of my head and rolled over on my side. When the pain subsided to a dull throbbing, I looked over my shoulder to see the Rafiq gripping the pillow I had my head on earlier, and his mouth bleeding.

"He must have bitten his tongue…" Altair mused by the door. I had to force myself to not stare. He had his hood down, and now that I wasn't busy holding him down on a hospital bed, or being afraid of him, I was able to get a nice view of his face. Damn, he's handsome.

"Mhhmff mhh mh mmf hmff!" the Rafiq frowned at Altair, shaking me (again) from my thoughts.

"Oh, dear, I'm so sorry, Rafiq, I—" he waved me off with a pained smile. I smiled apologetically back and followed the men to the back room. We ate in silence, mostly because Altair was snickering and the Rafiq was busy trying not to hurt his tongue even more. I helped my victim clean the dishes later, and watched as he left and closed the trapdoor behind him.

"Where's he going?" I asked.

"He has a house near here." Altair explained, sitting down on one end of the carpet.

"Oh." I flopped back down where I was earlier and prepared to go back to that blissful state of mind.

"You just slept for four hours, woman." Altair looked at me, frowning in confusion.

"It's Isis…" I yawned.

"How can you still be tired?"

"I wasn't sleeping, I was…" I waved my arm around, looking for an explanation. "I was just daydreaming."

"That's why you had your eyes open…" he laid down so that if I looked to the side, his face would be upside down next to mine.

I looked up at the darkening sky. "You were spying on me?"

"I thought you were dead." He said simply. I snapped my head to look at him in alarm. "You don't move at all when you sleep." He explained, not looking away from the sky.

"And you didn't think to check if I was alright?"

"The Rafiq said you were still breathing." He shrugged. I scoffed and looked back up at the sky. I sighed and let my mind wander off again, until it took me to sleep.

I frowned at the light shining through my eyelids. I must have forgotten to close the blinds yesterday. I groaned and rolled around on my right side until my face hit the soft fur of my cat. She always sleeps on my pillow. I brought my arms up and hugged her, burying my nose in her fur. Cedric must have cuddled with her earlier, she was smelling like that musky, spicy perfume I gave him for his birthday. I sighed and cuddled closer to her, frowning at someone talking. Why was anyone in my room in the first place? I sleepily tried concentrate on the voice.

"Off." It growled.

"Nhh…" I buried my nose deeper into my cat's fur. I had to buy Ced this perfume again. Sooo niiice…

"Get. Off. Me." I snapped my eyes open and jolted away from what I thought was my cat. I scrambled up and instantly staggered from dizziness. Then I actually fell down when the last days came crushing back to me.

I groaned from the hard floor and opened my eyes again, propping myself on my elbow. At first everything was a little fuzzy around the edges, but then I recognized the fountain at the end of the room, with my robe draped on it. I looked over my shoulder and saw Altair sitting and rubbing his eyes. He looked like a big, fat, teddybear. Which, by the way, reminded me. I must have been hugging his head.  _Awkward_. But I was still too sleepy for that. I groaned and flopped back down, squinting against the light.

"Good morning." Came the chirpy voice of the Rafiq.

"Define 'good'" I mumbled, hiding my eyes from the light behind my elbow.

"Why were you hugging me?" Altair asked. I emerged from under my arm and looked over at him.

"I thought you were my cat." I explained.

"You have a cat?"

"I did, at home." I stood up and stretched, feeling the bones of my back and shoulders pop.

"What was it like?" the Rafiq made conversation as we ate dry fruits and bread for breakfast and he packed proviant for our trip. I sat, happily swinging my legs, on the counter.

"Like Altair's head." I grinned at the assassin.

"Your cat is ugly." The Rafiq said.

I tried not to fall from the counter and watched between bursts of laughter as Altair beat the Rafiq across the counter. We (or, rather,  _I_ ) bid goodbye to the Rafiq and made our way to the city gates. Sneaking past the guards, we found our horses grazing where we left them. I stopped and looked at Altair.

"What?" he asked.

"Which horse do I take?" I asked.

"Just choose one…" he waved his hand dismissively. I grinned and put my foot in the stirrup. " _Not_  that one…" he growled. I leaned my forehead on the horses flank. This was going to be a long ride.

* * *

"So, where are we going again?" I asked after a few hours of silence.

"To Acre." Altair turned his head to me. "Any help before we arrive?"

"How long will it take us to get there?" I ignored his question. He frowned, but answered me anyway.

"About five days." He kept looking at me. "So?"

"So what?" I acted aloof. "Oh, you want to know what happens?" he didn't move. "Well, if you're nice to me on these five days, I'll tell you just after you leave me at the bureau." I grinned at him.

"I could just threaten you." He led his horse closer. I led mine away.

"Or you could be nice…it doesn't hurt, you know…"

* * *

We (read: my whining) decided to rush things and we galloped until the sun touched the horizon. Altair slowed down and led us to another secluded area, where a little stream flowed. I led the horses there and Altair started the fire. When I came back, he already had the dough ready and baking on two sticks. He gave one of them to me.

"Thanks." We ate in silence and went to sleep on our respective blankets.

* * *

In the morning, I woke as usual to the sun blinding me. Before I stood up, I threw a pebble at Altair, who jolted up. He looked down at me.

"Hey, it's better than last time…" I stood up and stretched. He just sighed and put out the remains of the fire while I put the blankets away.

* * *

The next day was a rush in my perspective. We decided to continue galloping, only to be chased far into the night by a group of guards. When we finally lost them, I couldn't feel my butt, or my legs. I complained loudly to Altair, until he threatened to gag me if I didn't go to sleep.

* * *

On the third day, we rode at normal speed, but still were chased by guards. This time, when we lost them in the darkness, the moon was already on its highest point in the sky. But I was still so full of energy, Altair decided we could risk a small fire.

"Hey, Altair?" I asked as we ate. He made no recognition that I was talking to him. I continued anyways. "Tell me something about yourself." He snorted out a laugh. "What?" I took my stick from the fire and blew on it.

"Why would I tell you about myself?"

"Because then we would get to know each other." I tapped his stick and he quickly took it out of the fire before his bread burned.

"Why would I want that?" he bit into the bread and hissed at his burnt lips.

"Because," I took the bread from him and opened it with my fingers, letting the steam escape, thus making it cool. I gave it back to him with what I hoped was a convincing smile. "it's going to take quite a while until you assassinate all those men, and we'll be stuck together until that happens." ' _and because you have to protect me from your templar master_ ' I didn't say that out loud, of course.

He ate half of his bread before he looked at me.

"You first."

"Me first." I sighed and nibbled at my bread. It was actually quite tasty. "I don't know what to say. What do you want to know?"

"Where do you come from?" he asked.

"I told you, I can't say." I pouted.

"Then tell me what it is like."

I pondered. Electricity, technology, cars, airplanes, processed food…no, he wouldn't buy that.

"It's very different from here." I started. "Everyone goes to school and learns to read and write, the foods are different, the people are different…what else?" I looked over at him, expecting more questions.

"Why are you here?"

"I…don't know." I stammered. "Maybe I have to do something here?" I shrugged and took another bite. "Now you."

"I don't remember anything before I joined the Creed." He tossed his empty stick into the fire. "All I know is what I have been taught there and what I learned throughout missions. I was named head assassin when I was 16, and…well…that's it."

"Wow, your life is boring!" I swallowed my last bite and started poking at the ground with my stick, drawing squiggly lines.

"I know." I looked over at him, surprised by the sad tone in his voice. The fire cast amber light on his face and made his eyes look red. It didn't look scary, it looked…it just looked strange, but…in a good sort of way? I realized he was now looking at me curiously, his red eyes boring into mine. I blinked and averted my gaze back to the fire with a soft 'sorry'.

"What did you see?" he asked.

"What?" I glanced back at him.

"When you looked into my eyes." He was still looking at me. "What did you see?"

"What…what I saw?" he nodded. He wasn't really glaring at me, but I couldn't help but feel a shiver down my spine. "Um…well, the fire makes your eyes look a bit red, but I know they're brown, so…" I drifted off and shrugged. I seemed that wasn't the answer he was looking for, since he hummed and looked back at the fire.

"Altair?" I asked quietly. He didn't respond again. "What's it like? Killing a person?"

He sighed and looked up at the stars.

"It's mindnumbing." He said after a while. I cocked my head to the side in confusion. "When I assassinate a target, my mind just…shuts everything else away. The unnecessary noises, people, colors…basically all my surroundings fade into white nothingness, and I'm alone with a dying person in my arms."

I remembered the game, when the targets say their last words. I nodded in understanding.

"Do you know that feeling?" he asked, curious of why I nodded.

"I've heard of it…why are you so troubled?" I asked.

"This man I killed…Tamir…he said things to me, things that made me doubt the Creed, doubt my master…"

' _Oh, if only you knew, Altair…_ ' I thought bitterly. I wondered when it would be safe to tell him.

"But I know I must trust master." Poor thing… "I won't let my mind open for attacks."

"Maybe…" I tried, "maybe you shouldn't decide now what you believe in."

"What do you mean?" he looked sharply at me.

"Well," I chose my words carefully. "If you don't have an open mind, that's the same as being brainwashed." He still looked confused. "Like…I never believed I could end up here, but I'm adapting to it. You should listen to everything everyone says, and think about it carefully. Then, you can decide yourself what you believe in." minutes ticked by as he kept staring thoughtfully at me.

"Maybe you aren't as stupid as you look…" he said, finally.

"Hey!" I frowned and threw a pebble at him. He laughed and threw it back at me.

"Thank you."

"For what?" I asked, still remembering how his face looked handsome and young when he laughed.

"For your words." It was a weird way of explaining it, but I think I understood what he meant. And I think I just won a tiny little piece of his trust, too.


	5. Sick

The next day, I awoke to the sun again. My head was throbbing like it never did before, and my vision was blurry. I merely rolled over on my stomach and reached for Altair. My fingers found fabric, and I tugged half-heartedly. I felt a hand grasp my wrist tightly, then loosen as Altair recognized me.

"Good morning." He stretched. I didn't move. Instead, I groaned. "What is it?" he asked. The red light shining through my eyes was blocked, and I dared to open them. Altair was crouching next to me, just like he crouches at the game. I giggled as I remembered 'ohh'ing and 'ahh'ing at the screen as my cousin played. I felt a large hand on my forehead and heard Altair swear. Oh, Altair swearing was never good. I  _somehow_  left the floor and floated to… _somewhere_. After hearing some shuffling and trying to make forms of the fuzzy… _things_  in front of me, I finally found enough competent grey matter to recognize I was sitting on a horse.

"Horse?" I made to get down, but felt two hands pushing me back on the saddle.

"What are you doing?" I heard Altair yell at me.

"Don't yell at me!" I frowned where a fuzzy Altair-shaped blotch was moving around next to me.

"I'm not yelling. Stay there."

"So…is this my horse?"

"No, that's my horse." I made to get down again. "What are you doing?" he yelled again.

"You always yell at me when I sit on your horse." I whined. I heard some more shuffling next to me and then something way too warm against my back. I leaned back against it, searching for more warmth. Wasn't the desert supposed to  _be_  warm? Then why was I cold? And why was I moving without…you know…moving? Oh, right, horse. "Horse…" I mumbled sleepily. Something made a weird hissing noise next to my ear and I felt another something wrap around my waist. After much debating, I came to the conclusion that Altair was shushing me and keeping me from falling off the horse. Or a giant snake was going to eat me.

I personally preferred the former.

I found myself slipping in and out of consciousness, sometimes being jolted out of it by yells I had learned to recognize as guards'.

I woke up thankfully under a shade of some sorts. I opened my eyes and found that everything was still blurry. I strained to focus on at least something, and after much struggling and blinking, I saw Altair and a Rafiq looming over me.

"Hello…" I cooed to them.

"She should stay here a while." The Rafiq leaned back with Altair, making my eyes scream mercy against the sunlight. I raised my hands and protected the poor little orbs.

"Nhh…" I squinted between my fingers. "No…" I reached out to Altair when he stepped away and weakly grabbed his ankle. He crouched back down to me. I giggled, admiring the 'eagle-pose'.

"Try to sleep." I heard him rumble. Has his voice always been so handsomely deep? I gripped at his sleeve, grinning like a dreamy fangirl.

"Are we in Acre?" I didn't wait for an answer. "He lives at the Order's Hospitalier Fortress, a hospital, northwest of here. He keeps mainly to his quarters inside the Hospital. Sometimes, he walks around, tending to his experrr…rrrimmm…mmhhm…mmments."

"Experiments?" I heard Altair ask.

"He kidnaps people…mostly from Jerusalem…and then he exs…exper…experises…pokes around them." Oww, my head… "And Altair?" I heard him hum. I almost squealed. It was such a deep, rumbling, manly, sexy noise…focus, Isis! "Bring me back some drugs…" I grinned sheepishly at the white blur.

The sun shone mercilessly down at me when he left, and I grabbed the Rafiq's arm and put it over my eyes. He pat my forehead softly.

"So you are the seer Al Mualim wrote about."

"I didn't know Santa wrote back letters…" I mumbled. I heard a chuckle and something else being said, but I was too busy trying to stay conscious. I lost the war against my own brain and fell into a dreamless slumber.

* * *

I jolted awake when the bells began to ring. I frowned at the noise, but then smiled at what they meant.

"Yaaay…" I giggled quietly when a fuzzy white shape fell through the roof.

"You were right." Altair panted as he sat next to me.

"Of course I was right. I'm always right. Even when I'm wrong, I'm right. Right?" I tried not to focus on his heavy breathing and imagine it tickling my ear. I shook my head angrily. Focus!

"What?" he asked.

"Nothing. Did you bring drugs?" I rolled around until I was on my stomach and clumsily pushed myself up until I was sitting on my heels in front of him. I focused on making his figure less fuzzy and saw droplets of blood across his face. "Ew." I frowned. "Go wash your face."

He laughed and stood up, handing the Rafiq a small package, telling him to make a tea for me. When he came back, he was holding a steaming cup.

"Here." He pulled me to a sitting position (when did I lay back down?) with only one arm. I felt those awesome muscles coil under my back.

"Ohh…" I cooed. "You know, I love your muscles…"

"That was unexpected…" he chuckled.

"So?"

"I guess I should expect the unexpected around you?" he chuckled again. Ohh, that rumbling sound went right down to my nether regions.

"If you expected the unexpected, it wouldn't be unexpected anymore, therefore fulfilling your expectations." I slurred. He paused. "I know, I confused myself with that one." He chuckled again. "Your voice is so…sexy…" I giggled. The arm supporting me trembled when he laughed loudly. "You seem happy. What happened?"

"You need to drink this." He chuckled and held a cup to my lips.

"You're being nice." I sipped at the liquid. It was disgustingly sweet. "Why are you being so nice alluvasudden?" I gurgled as he forced me to drink some more.

"That's because you helped me so much. I think I like you better now." He finished pouring the icky tea down my throat and put the cup on the floor.

"See? You be nice to me all the time, and you won' need ta…needuh…" I frowned at him. "What are you still doing here? Don't you have to kill some guy in Acre?" I felt his arm leave my back and guide me back to lie down.

"We'll leave to Jerusalem as soon as you get better." He chuckled.

I tried to process everything he said, but fell back against the floor. I think I hit my head too, but I was out like a light before I registered the pain.

* * *

"Isis." I heard someone calling me. "Isis. Wake up." I stirred and opened my eyes. "How are you feeling?" Altair was looming over me, the Rafiq right behind him.

"I'm fine, why wouldn't I be fine?" I sat up. "Why do I feel so weak? Why are we in the bureau? Weren't we a day away from Acre? This is Acre, right? Oh, the Garnier guy lives at the hospit—"

"I killed him yesterday." Altair cut me off. "You've been out for three days."

"Oh." I paused, trying to remember. "Did I tell you anything to help with the assassination?" I asked.

"You did…" he grinned as he nodded thoughtfully. "Amongst other interesting things."

I felt blood rise to my cheeks.

"R-really?" I stuttered, hating every inch of his growing grin. "Wha-what did I say?"

"Oh, nothing…" he smiled.

"You seem much too happy for my taste." I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Well I am happy." He smiled. My eyes zeroed in on his plump lips. When he wasn't wearing his hood, all his hidden handsome features were at the mercy of my stare…no! Bad Isis! Focus!

"Good for you…" I tried to stand up on my wobbly legs, bracing myself against the wall.

"Are you feeling alright?" he stood up and shrugged his hood on. "Can you ride?" I willed my head out of the gutter and nodded. "For three days?" I groaned.

"Maybe if you lead my horse for me?"

"You don't have a horse anymore."

I paused. Then…how did I get here? My face must have shown my question, because he smirked. I narrowed my eyes and glared at him.

"You were passed out for most of the time, you had to ride with me." ' _please don't use that word…_ ' I closed my eyes and groaned, embarrassed. I heard a chuckle behind me.

"Well then, shall we?" he pointed to the trapdoor on the roof. I laughed out loud, mocking him.

"You really think I can do…" I motioned to the trapdoor. " _that_?"

I yelped when I felt his hand on the back of my thigh.

"Get off me you perv!" I shrieked and punched his face. A resounding  _smack_  echoed around the room.

"You were nicer yesterday…" he said through his bleeding, but this time not broken, nose. "I was going to carry you out."

"Why are you being so nice?" I approached him and let him hoist me on his back. I hugged his broad shoulders and shuddered at his warmth.

"You have absolutely no idea of how much you helped me yesterday. I hate searching for information." He ran up the wall effortlessly, as if I wasn't even on his back.

"So you're being nice so that I help you with every assassination?"

He remained quiet. I squeezed his hips with my knees and gripped his shoulder as he kept running across the roofs. We, or rather,  _he_ , climbed over the city walls and dropped down next to his horse. He put me on the floor and hopped on the white animal. Reaching out his hand, he grasped my wrist and hoisted me behind him.

"Pull your hood up." He called over his shoulder. I scowled and complied, shrieking when he kicked his horse, making it burst into a gallop. I desperately hugged him and hid my face in his back. I felt the mound of meat I was hugging shake and started slapping him half heartedly.

"You did this on purpose!" I yelled over the wind and his laughs. I calmed down somewhat, still feeling a little weak, and rested my cheek against Altair's back, following his movements with the horse. After a few hours of galloping, Altair decided to give the poor animal some rest, and got down from it. I started following suit, but he pushed me back on the saddle.

"You're still not fully healed." He answered my questioning gaze. "We'll need three days to get there, you should rest." He took the reins and guided the horse.

I remembered after a few minutes what he said in Acre's bureau.

"Altair?" I called. He hummed in recognition, but didn't turn around. "What…what exactly did I say yesterday?" I heard him chuckle.

"You told me where to find Naplouse, and do bring you some medicine." He said airily. "Oh," he turned around and kept walking backwards. "and I distinctly remember you saying something about loving my muscles, and how sexy you thought my voice sounded…" I could only barely make out the lower half of his face, and saw his dark, plump lips pull back to reveal dazzling white teeth.

I felt my cheeks heat up and tried to shrink deeper into my hood. I glared at him and stuttered:

"W-well, I was obviously delirious."

"Obviously." He agreed and turned back, calling over his shoulder. "and that bit of color looks healthier on you."

I blushed harder and grumbled. Focusing on the back of the horse's neck, I thought about what was happening. I mean, sure, he was very, very handsome, strong, an—no! What was I thinking? He's an assassin, and I'm practically under his mercy! He's just being nice because I made his job easier. What will he do when I tell him his master is the one who is actually the bad guy? I need to stop taking this lightly, this isn't a game anymore, this is serious, this isn't going t—

"Isis?" I jolted out of my musings and snapped my head up. "We're resting here for tonight." Altair had led the horse to a small stream and was standing next to me, with his hand on the horse's flank, right next to my knee. "Is everything alright? Are you feeling well?"

"I'm fine…" I waved him away and clumsily got off the horse by myself. My musings had occupied me for so long that the moon was already peeking over the horizon. Altair threw the blanket down on the floor and started a small fire. I stretched the blanket neatly out and sat on it.

I sighed. I was sitting all day, but I was still very tired. I stifled a yawn when Altair sat next to me on the blanket and handed me my warm bread. Was time really going that fast or was I still a bit groggy? Seemingly seconds later, I was drooping sleepily to the right. I felt a hand pull me upright, but I didn't stop, I just flopped over to the left. I remember my pillow smelling of spicy musk, and a deep chuckle making me sigh contentedly. I slipped off to unconsciousness and dreamt of a big, warm, marshmallow-soft bed.

* * *

Mhh, I don't want to wake up. Seems all I do is sleep recently. But I was so comfy. I breathed deeply, relishing in that spicy musk I fell asleep to, and turned my head, rubbing my nose on my pillow. It seemed to emanate some kind of warmth, and made a weird swooshing and thumping noise when I pressed the side of my face and my ear against it. I paused when I processed all that.

Opening my eyes, I saw Altair. No, really, that was all I saw. I propped myself on my elbow and looked at the scene. Apparently, my pillow was his shoulder. His arms were sprawled to both sides, his left knee was bent, while his right leg was being hugged by mine. I didn't even think to move. If he woke up, I'd be dead the next millisecond. Then again, he should alrea—

Chocolate eyes stared back at me. His face didn't show any emotion, so I just stared back. He inhaled and lifted his head, looking at our legs, and at my right hand still resting on his chest. He let his head fall back on the blanket.

"Off."

I quickly rolled away and sat up. He merely stood up, folded the blanket, and mounted his horse. He looked at me, still half lying on the floor.

"What are you waiting for?" he stretched his hand out. I stood up, dusted myself off and let him pull me up behind him. I loosely held him as he urged the horse to a light trot.

"So…you're not mad?" I leaned to the right and tried to look over his shoulder at his face. Emphasis on 'tried', he was too tall.

"At what?" he looked back at me. I could faintly identify his eyes in the shadows his hood cast over his face.

"At…well…" I blushed.

"You are still weak. You fell asleep through dinner, and fell on me." He explained and turned away. I nodded and straightened up.

I couldn't deny that he was very…comfortable, despite all the obviously hard muscles. And warm. And big. I giggled. He was like my personal Totoro!

"What is so amusing?" he called over the noise of the horse's fastening pace.

"I was just thinking about something funny…"

We galloped throughout the whole day, and well into the night. Coming across a public stable, Altair shook me from my half-asleep state and changed horses.

"You're leaving your horse?" I asked as we saddled a black one with a white spot on its forehead.

"This stable houses the Creed's horses. He'll eventually be taken back to Masyaf." He explained. I nodded and rested my forehead on the top of his spine. Next thing I know, I'm being yelled at by Altair. "Wake up, woman!"

"What?" I grumbled. I noticed my butt was halfway off the saddle and I was well on the way to the rocky ground. Altair didn't answer, he just simply reached behind him and grabbed the scruff of my robes. In one strong jerk, he pulled me over his shoulder and sideways on the saddle in front of him. After a bit of struggling, I managed to throw my left leg over the horse's neck and sat properly in front of the assassin.

"Sleep." He rumbled next to my ear. I suppressed a shudder.

"What about you?" I asked, leaning back on his chest.

"I can easily go a night without sleep." I felt him curl his arm around my waist and relaxed. A few moments passed. "Why do you do that?" he asked,  _just_  as I was seconds from sleep.

"Do what?" I sighed.

"When you start drifting off to sleep." Aha. He  _knew_ , but he still woke me. Bastard. "You start humming."

"Humming?" I craned my head back and looked at his chin. "Like a song?" he looked down at me. His chocolate eyes stared into mine, making the starry sky above us took almost cerulean compared to his dark stare. Dark. Not threatening or scary.

"No. More like a single low tone." I saw the corners of his eyes crinkle. "Are you trying to lull yourself to sleep?"

"Are you offering to do so for me?" I asked, looking back at the horse's neck and shrugging my hood off. Despite the night's chilly air, Altair was like a furnace. I shuddered as the rumbling chuckles disturbed the quiet night air.

"Go to sleep." I feel him pull his arm a little, making me lean back on his chest. "Tomorrow you can tell me of Talal."

"We'll see if you're nice enough until we reach the bureau." I raised a hand and covered my mouth as I yawned. Turning slightly to the right, I hugged his arm to my chest and drifted off to sleep.

* * *

I was standing in the library before Al Mualim. He was scolding Altair and me for having killed him. His body lay off to the side, and Altair looked tired. I was hiding behind him, peeking around his arm at Al Mualim.

Malik was sitting on the chandelier behind us, pointing and laughing at Altair for having trusted the old man.

When I looked back at Al Mualim, his robes were red instead of black, and he had a large bag in one hand and a coke on the other. He drained it and threw it in the bag, where many other empty coke bottles clanked together. He swayed drunkenly and fell face forward on his desk.

Leonardo da Vinci appeared out of nowhere and started dissecting the now naked Al Mualim.

* * *

I woke up to the feeling of a rocking chair. Then I remembered I was on a horse. Altair's arm was still wrapped around my waist, and I was clutching desperately at it, hugging it tightly to myself. I reminded myself it was only a dream and loosened my grip.

"Thank you." I heard Altair sigh. He released my waist and flexed his arm. "Did you have a bad dream?"

"Why do you ask?" I reached behind him and took our water flask. Gulping it down, I tried to wash the dream away.

"You were holding my arm the entire night." He gripped the reins with both hands now.

"Then why didn't you pull it away if it was bothering you?" I asked.

"I tried. You would just hold on tighter and talk nonsense."

"Really?" I looked back at him. There was a small frown line displaying his confusion. "What did I say?"

"At first you told me to 'stay, because he's not dead yet'. Then something about 'watching out for Malik, in case he fell'. Then you just started to shudder." He looked down at me. "What did you dream?" I turned back to the road and shrugged.

"I don't really remember."

"You're lying." He accused. "Was it a vision? Is that how you could tell me of Naplouse?"

"Gods,  _no_ , I hope that wasn't a vision!" I shuddered.

"Then you do remember." I turned back to him and narrowed my eyes. He smirked.

"I saw your boss naked, and Malik sitting on the library's chandelier." I had to bite the inside of my cheek to hold in the laughter. The look on his face was worth the weight of the horse carrying both of us in  _gold_.

"Why did you dream  _that_?" he asked me.

"I have no power over what I dream." I turned back to the road.

"But still…" his voice told me that look on his face was still there.

"Do you want me to sit behind you again?" I asked after a few moments of silence.

"Are you uncomfortable?"

"No, it's just…I don't know, don't you prefer that, since we were travelling like that all the time?"

"I can keep you from falling like this." He explained. I shrugged and leaned back on hm. "That doesn't mean you can go back to sleep!" he pushed me forward with his chest. I simply flopped back. He pushed again. I let myself go limp, laughing at his swearing. "Dammit, woman, sit up straight!"

I craned my neck to look up at him. When he looked down, I pouted and batted my eyelashes. He sighed.


	6. UP

Now that I was awake, Altair forced the horse into a gallop. We were able to reach Jerusalem by the time the sun was a few palms over the horizon. Leading the horse to the stable, Altair got down and held out a hand.

"What a polite gentleman you are…" I mocked, but accepted his help nonetheless. My weak legs were even more wobbly after day and night on a horse. "You know what's weird?" I asked him. "My left buttcheek is asleep, and the right one doesn't even know it." I recited Phoebe, from 'Friends', and giggled.

He shushed me as we approached the gates, but I saw his lips twitch. We blended in a group of scholars and passed the guards without any problems. He led me to an alley and turned his back to me. I climbed on my man-tree and he took off climbing, sprinting, climbing, jumping, climbing, climbing, climbing, climbing, climbing, climbing, climbing, climbing, climbing, climbing, climbing…

"Altair, where are we going?" I asked.

"Up." He grunted.

"Yes, I noticed, bu— _oh gods_ …" I whimpered as I made the mistake of looking down. I heard Altair choke and reluctantly loosened my hold. "Couldn't I have waited downstairs?" I whined.

"You'll like this." He said.

"No, I won't." I said. "The leap of faith is for faithful people only." I looked down again and gulped. "The only thing I believe in is the very hard and solid ground." He just continued climbing.

"We're here."  _Hey_ , was he ignoring me all this time? He forced my paralyzed fingers away from his throat and my legs from his waist. He sat me on one of the cross's arms and sat on the other one. "You're not going to fall." He said, grasping my wrist. I desperately clutched at his arm. "Look." He tried to push my head away from his shoulder, but I was too scared.

" _Isis_." I looked up at him when he said my name. His face was inches away from mine. He had his hood down. I guess no one would recognize him way up here. The setting sun cast red and orange light onto his face, making his eyes look red again. I stared into them, my mouth parting slightly. Right now, I saw every little detail of his face. The stubble on his cheeks darkening his face in a handsome hue making me want to rub my own cheek on it. The tiny beads of sweat on his upper lip making me want to kiss it away. The big scar on his mouth wasn't the only one. There was another small one, like a simple nick, right below his left eye. My fingers itched to caress it.

"Look." He pulled me from my desires when he turned his head to the sun. I kept staring openly. The sunlight wasn't so strong anymore, so he didn't have to squint against it, letting me see more of that insidious red gleam in his eyes. "Isis…" those devishly alluring reds turned back to me, just inches away. "staring is rude." It sounded like a joke, but his expression wasn't revealing any kind of smile. It wasn't frowning either. It was just a mixture of confusion, curiosity and a slight bit of amusement.

"I-I'm sorry." I stammered quietly, but kept staring.

The noise of the city below was dying down due to the late hour, and our height drowned it down to silence.

"What do you see?" he asked, whispering. I remembered him asking that once. I remembered what I sheepishly answered and what his reaction was.

"I see…" I breathed deeply. "I see a man. Not an assassin." His eyes seemed to hold an incontrollable inferno, full of passion. "I know you're freakishly strong and skilled, you're intelligent and frequently use that gift," I took another deep breath. "but you're not happy." He frowned. I decided to make use of my 'psychic skills'. "You question yourself too much. You have to learn that your instincts, your  _feelings_  will always be right. People will want to dissuade you, trick you, but you must do only what  _you_  think is right." I watched him blink as he processed the information.

"How is it that you know everything?" he smiled. I liked it when he smiled. Those ugly frown lines shifted to crinkly ones on the corners of his eyes, making his smile look boyish and aloof.

"I don't know  _everything_." I smiled back, despite having to repeat that line over and over again.

"Just  _some_  things." He said and stretched his smile wider, showing his teeth. My eyes zeroed in on them. They were the most straight, dazzling white a toothpaste commercial could ever wish for. His dark, plump lips the color of bitter chocolate complimented the tanned olive tone of his skin. I felt myself leaning closer to him, but stopped when I felt his breath on my own lips. I raised my eyes to meet his. Those deep reds stared back at me, making me shudder.

"Are you cold?" he asked, barely a whisper anymore. I felt his large hand rub my arm gently. I  _was_  going to answer, really, I was.

But he didn't let me.

His lips were even softer than they looked. He glided his hand over my arm and to the back of my neck. I tasted those droplets of sweat I admired earlier, and an unique spicy taste. I pulled away as soon as I felt my body leaning closer to him and let out a shaky whimper.

"What?" he frowned, confused.

"I'm still a little afraid." I looked down and shuddered. When I looked back up and saw him almost a foot away from me and a hurt expression on his face, I realized what he must have understood. "Of the  _height_." I explained, laughing a little.

"Oh." Relief flooded visibly back to his face. "Well, then, we better get down." My laugh stopped and my face went slack. I remembered the way down in the game. No. No way was he going to jump. I narrowed my eyes at his smirk and hugged the cross for dear life. "Come on." He curled his arms around my waist and effectively freed the cross from my vicious grasp.

"If you're going to jump down, you can go alone. I'm staying right here, buddy." I reached for the cross again.

"And how do you expect to get down? By climbing?" he just laughed when I nodded. "You'd slip and fall." And with that he jumped.

I couldn't even scream, I just closed my eyes and sunk my nails in his arms, praying the haystack wouldn't kill us. I felt something warm pop on my cheek and opened my eyes. Altair leaned back and smiled at me. He then hugged me close to his body and maneuvered us around in midfall, so that he was under me. I heard him ' _oof'_  as we hit the surprisingly soft haystack and sunk into its depths.

"You're shaking." I heard his deep voice rumble above my head. I let a small, but slightly hysterical laugh escape me and looked up.

"Did you kiss me while we were falling?" my voice sounded as if I had swallowed chalk. He nodded. "That was the sweetest thing." I smiled. He released my waist and hips and raised a hand. He wiped it on my wet cheek.

"Then why are you crying?" he asked.

"Do you have any idea how scary that was?" I noticed I hadn't stopped shaking. I let out a deep breath and lay back down on his chest. I slapped it weakly when I felt, more than heard, him chuckle. "Don't  _ever_  pull a stunt like that again." I begged, looking back up at him. The city was darkening, so I couldn't see much of his face under our little secret cave. I propped myself on my elbows and pulled his shoulders, dragging my body slowly upwards until my face was directly above his. My ponytail had loosened in the fall, making my hair tumble across his face. I pulled it away, caressing his cheek.

"The color of your hair is so different." He took a strand between his fingers and inspected it. How he could see in the dark was beyond me, but it felt nice.

"It's not real. I dyed it."

"With what?" he asked.

"Some chemicals I had back home. My natural color is black." I explained, pushing his hand away from my hair. Leaning down, I captured his lips again. Feeling his tongue poking at my own lips, I met it with mine. It was like licking a battery. I heard him moan softly and felt his fingers splay apart and intertwine with mine. His other arm hugged my shoulders, making our kiss deepen.

When we parted for air, our noses still touched. I spread little kisses across his smiling lips and giggled.

"We should head back to the bureau." He said. "Malik won't be pleased by our tardiness."

"Malik is the Rafiq here?" I perked up at that. Shuffling out of the haystack, I staggered. Damn. I forgot I was still weak. Altair's arms were around me soon enough and hoisted me on his back. He sprinted quietly through the dark, empty streets, then scaled a wall.

"Malik!" Altair called down the closed trapdoor. A shadow came running in from the back room.

"You're late!" he hissed, but opened the door. Altair fell in and I heard the trapdoor close above us.

"Safety and peace, Malik." He nodded at the other.

"Your presence here deprives me of both. What do you want?" Malik put his hand on his hip.

"Al Mualim has aske—"

"Asked that you perform some menial task in a matter of to redeem yourself." Malik started insulting Altair where he knew where it would hurt him. And I did not like that. I squiggled in Altair's hold. He put me down.

"Malik!" I squealed and darted to him. My clumsy weak legs gave way and I toppled on Malik, bringing him down with me. He laughed good naturedly and hugged me with his arm. "How's your arm?" I asked. "Or lack of it?" I corrected. Altair and Malik laughed at my eagerness.

"You made him laugh!" Malik pointed to Altair. "Are you a witch too, dear?" Malik asked.

"Witch?" I tilted my head to the side.

"Dear?" Altair grabbed the scruff of my robe and pulled me up from Malik's lap.

"Oh, I see…" Malik smirked at us. I felt blood rise to my cheeks and giggled. "I'll leave you two for tonight, we shall talk tomorrow." He stood up and went to the back room. "Try not to make so much noise." He called over his shoulder and closed the door behind him.

"He's only joking." I looked up at Altair. "You didn't have to act like that."

"You were the one who told me to act as my feelings tell me to." He snapped.

"Fine." I shrugged. "Just remember that I have feelings too." I sauntered off to the pile of cushions in the corner and flopped down, sighing. I rubbed my eyes sleepily. When I lowered my hands, Altair was crouching in front of me.

"I'm sorry." He said. Something told me those words were not often spoken by him. I sighed and stretched my arms out for a hug. Instead, Altair leaned forward, slipping between them and crushing his lips to mine. He crawled forward, making me lie back on the cushions. He pulled away and looked at me. Before he spoke, I shushed him.

"It's okay. Just remember that Malik is still your friend." He opened his mouth with a questioning frown. "I just  _know_ , okay? Now get off me for a minute." He rolled to the side and lay on his back, watching me sit up. I unbuckled my belt and started to take my robe off.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Don't get any bright ideas, mister." I called, pulling my robe over my head. "Fuck, not again! Can you help me?" I pointed to the back of my neck where my robe got stuck on my chain again. I felt fingers on the back of my neck for a moment and a hand pulling my robe off my head. Before I raised it, a kiss was placed just below my hairline. I giggled and turned.

"What's this?" he pulled the chain from under my shirt and inspected the pendant. It was a simple, cheap trip souvenir. This Japanese guy wrote your name on a grain of rice and stuck it in a teeny tiny vial of water, that hung from a chain. I thought it was so cute, I never took it off.

"Just a trip souvenir." I put it back under my shirt and leaned over to him. I pushed him on his back and crawled on top of him, just like we were on the haystack. "Now, where were we?" I grinned down at him. He rubbed his hands on my sides.

"Your clothes are of the strangest materials…" he mused. His hands trailed to my hips and rubbed the sides of my thighs. He looked from my clothes to my eyes and ginned boyishly. I felt his hands grasp the back of my knees and widened my eyes. He wouldn't.

He did. He grasped my tendons and pulled, just like I had on that day with Zahir. I yelped and fell on him. He laughed.

"No fair…" I pouted at him. He kissed my puffed up lower lip. I felt his hands ghost over the back of my thighs and stop right under my butt. I raised my eyebrows at him. He seemed to contemplate what to do. "Well?" I asked.

He didn't grab my butt. Instead, he grabbed the end of my thighs, just below it. He pushed them apart and rolled us over. It all happened very fast, and the next moment I found myself lying on my back, my legs hugging the hips of the man above me snugly. He smirked and leaned on his elbows, looming over me. I put my left hand affectionately on his chest and took his face in my right, rubbing my thumb over the small scar under his eye.

"How did this happen?" I asked.

"Dog." He closed his eyes and leaned into my touch.

"Aww, poor you…" I cooed at him and kissed his scar. "What about here?" I trailed the scar on his chin with my fingers. He kissed their tips and rumbled something. I tilted my head in confusion.

"I ran facefirst into a guard." He looked to the side as if ashamed of his clumsiness. I laughed. "It's not funny…"

"Aww, I'm sorry." I kissed his chin, where his scar ended. He didn't look back at me. I kissed a little higher on the scar. He didn't move. I trailed small kisses, following his scar up to the corner of his lip. "Please forgive me?" I whimpered against the corner of his lip. He turned his head and kissed me fully and deeply.

I let myself go limp and felt one of his arms slide under my shoulders and lift me. Arching my back, I stretched my neck, feeling him kiss his way down my neck. He let me down slowly and lay on top of me, using my breasts as pillows. I smiled and wrapped my arms and legs softly around him. Running my fingers through his short hair, I caressed him a while, before I fell asleep.

* * *

I woke up to a comfortable warmth weighing me down. Opening my eyes against the sunlight, I raised my head and looked at the top of Altair's head. I started running my fingers through his hair again. He looked up at me.

"Finally, you're awake." He smiled. I coaxed his head closer and let him kiss me.

"Why didn't you wake me?" I asked.

"I tried." He laughed, kissing my forehead. "You just frowned in your sleep and pushed my head down." I smiled sheepishly.

"How, on this earth, can you make him smile?" Malik called from our right. We turned our heads to see him leaning against the doorframe. "All I ever saw was a cynical smirk."

"Well, you don't have boobs, do you, Malik?" I laughed at the look on both their faces.

"You know that's not why I smile at you, right?" Altair asked me, concerned. I nodded and kissed him.

"I don't want to see that, you know!" Malik yelled. Altair smirked and something malicious sparked in his eyes. He lifted me by the back of my shoulders and latched his mouth to my neck, sucking and nibbling, effectively making me let a little moan escape. We heard Malik scream in frustration, but that didn't stop him. We kept exchanging hot kisses until my stomach growled.

"Now." I pushed him away from me and we sat up. "Talal appears to be a leader of Slavers, kidnapping Jerusalem's citizens and selling them into slavery. He occupies an area north of here, near the Barbican." Malik came back in and listened closely. "He holds his slaves within a warehouse, and later sends them to Acre. He's preparing a caravan for travel. He inspects his stock of slaves daily. Talal is said to favor the bow. In a fight, he'll seek to put distance between him and his enemy, trying to kill from afar." Malik handed Altair another piece of his equipment, the throwing knives, saying a messenger brought it from Al Mualim. He knelt back in front of me after he took it.

"Talal himself should prove little challenge." He said as he adjusted the large belt.

"Little challenge? Listen to you! Such arrogance." Malik snorted at Altair. "Rest, prepare, cry in the corner…do whatever it is you do before a mission. But make sure you do it quietly." He sauntered off to the back room.

I leaned forward and kissed Altair, tongue and all, Malik be damned. He grinned and hid his face under his hood, disappearing on the rooftops. I went to the back room and looked at Malik.

"Now that your mouth isn't busy anymore," I blushed, despite previous demonstrations. "come have breakfast." I followed him into the back room and we sat at the table. We talked, mostly about Altair, through breakfast and cleaning up, then while I helped him with his maps, coloring where he told me to. Soon, bells were heard, and Malik looked up at me with an impressed expression. I was trembling already, and he noticed, smirking at me.

"Before he comes back," he said, putting his feather down. "you should know that you seem to be very dear to him. He may not yet know what he is feeling, but take care of my friend. Putting all his life's pleasures together, I have never seen him like that." Malik bowed slightly. "Thank you for giving him happiness." He said truthfully. I gawked a little at him. I felt tears in my eyes at such a strong display of friendship. Malik seemed to understand my tears flowing quietly down my cheeks. "Wipe those away, or Altair might think I upset you." He handed me a small piece of cloth. I laughed and did as he told me. As soon as I gave him the cloth back, a soft thump was heard outside. I sprang up, making my chair topple backwards noisily on the floor and sprinted to the outer room. I stopped and gasped at what I saw.

"Malik!" I called and rushed over to the red and white lump on the floor. I knelt down next to Altair and turned him over. An arrow stuck out of his right shoulder. Malik came with medical supplies and a bowl of warm water, all perfectly balanced on his one arm. We dragged him to the cushions and bared his torso.

"Altair! Wonderful to see you return to us! And, how fared the mission?" he asked sarcastically.

"The deed is done." Altair answered anyway. "Talal is dead."

"Oh, I know, I know. In fact, the entire city knows! Have you forgotten the meaning of subtlety?" Malik shook a bloody rag in Altair's face. I yanked it from him and continued his job.

"A skilled Assassin ensures his work is noticed by the many." Altair smirked at me.

"No, a skilled Assassin maintains control of his environment!" Malik screeched.

"Shut up, both of you!" I threw the rag in Malik's face.

"We can argue the details all you want, Malik, but the fact remains I've accomplished the task set to me by Al Mualim."

"I told you to shut up!" I yanked the arrow from his shoulder, making him wince.

"You were right again." Altair grinned at me through his wince.

"I know." I smiled at him despite his arrogant posture and took the needle from Malik after he cleaned the wound for stitching. I remembered having flying colors at stitches back in med school. Altair seemed to approve when I finished and he inspected my work. "I studied medicine at home." I shrugged and stood up to help Malik put his things away, but felt Altair yank me back down. I yelped and landed on his lap.

"I haven't thanked you yet…" he growled playfully. Malik rolled his eyes and left, slamming his door behind him. "I can still make her scream!" he yelled after Malik and started tickling me.

"No!" I shrieked and fell back on the cushions. "No, stop, you'll tear your stitches!" I held his wrists.

"So?" he shrugged, suppressing a wince. "You'll just be my nurse again." He had no idea how kinky that sounded to me. I pushed his chest and made him lay back.

"If I'm going to be your nurse," I crawled on top of him and sat on his thighs. "You're gonna have to do everything I say." He lowered his gaze and watched as I trailed my fingers across his smooth chest, followed this pale scar and that one too. Sliding my hands further down, I felt the small bumps and valleys of his abs, until my fingers reached his belly button. I circled it playfully then continued, brushing the hem of his pants. Our eyes met shortly, but he lowered his gaze when I tickled my fingers under his waistband and out again. I slowly trailed the tip of my forefinger over the  _obvious_ , until I reached between my own legs. Altair's eyes flickered briefly to mine, as he rubbed his palms on my thighs, hips, and under my shirt, grasping the curve of my waist firmly. I shuddered at the callous digits. He continued following my finger with his eyes when I dragged it up my stomach, lifting my shirt along with my movements, until I let it fall back again and put my finger on my chin in a mocking expression.

"What now?" I whispered, tilting my head to the side. The fingers squeezed and jolted to the side. He rolled over, caging me beneath him, again. I groaned as I felt my head hit the floor and closed my eyes against the swirling room.

"Isis?" I grunted to let him know I was listening. "What's wrong?" I felt him raise his body a little and opened my eyes. He was looking confused at me.

"I hit my head." I pushed at his chest and he rolled away from me, sitting up. I felt him pull my wrist until I was sitting sideways on his crossed legs, his big, warm hands caressing the back of my head.

"Did I hurt you?" he asked. I shook my head.

"I'm just a little weak." Raising my head, I kissed his jaw. "What exactly happened to me?"

"You probably weren't used to the heat." He lay back down and cradled me in his arms. I felt sleepy already.

"Sorry for ruining the mood." I giggled into his chest.

"Hmm…" I felt him shake his head. "Better if Malik doesn't walk in." My face reddened. I completely forgot about Malik. I heard Altair chuckle and decided to change the subject.

"When will I get better?"

"We will leave for Masyaf tomorrow. Zahir will know what to do." I nodded and closed my eyes, breathing in the exotic, spicy scent Altair released.


	7. Back in Masyaf

"Isis."

' _She's not in._ '

"Isis. Wake up."

"Nhhmmmph…"

"It is past midday."

I shot up and felt my forehead collide with someone's nose.

"Midday?" I watched Altair clutch his bleeding nose.

"For goodness sake, woman, why do you keep doing that?" he pinched the bridge of his swollen nose to make it stop bleeding.

"I didn't do it on purpose!" I rushed to him and wiped the blood with my hand away.

"You're not grossed out by blood?" Malik came in and watched us in amusement. "I remember you being full of it in the medical wing…"

"No." I shook my head and washed my hand in the fountain. "I used to work in a hospital."

"And they let you near patients?" Altair frowned at me. I batted his hand away and pinched his nose the correct way.

"I heard from the Rafiq in Damascus that you gave Altair quite the punch." Malik sniggered. "I keep liking you more and more…" he went back to the other room. I looked at Altair and tentatively let his nose go. It wasn't bleeding anymore. Score!

"Sorry…" I smiled sheepishly at him. I made to stand, but he held my wrist. Kneeling, I looked confused at him.

"If you think I'm going to accept being hit in the face for the third time, you are sadly mistaken." He leaned forward and rested his hand on the wall behind me, smashing our lips together. After a while of tongue-wrestling, Malik came in, making us pull back at his outburst.

"What do you two think you're doing?" I looked down and saw that my legs were now around the assassin's hips, and he was holding me up against the wall by the back of my thighs. Oops.

"Come on, Malik…" I untangled myself from Altair. "You're missing an arm, not your brain…" I smiled at him as I followed Altair into the back room.

"Isis, please. Enlighten me.  _Why_  are you with him?" Malik pointed to a proviant bag and Altair took it.

"Malik, unless you want to join us, there is no reason I should tell you anything of our relationship." I took an apple from the basket on the table and bit into the sweet red orb. I just watched both men freeze and look in silence at each other.

"I hope you're not considering what I said." I munched around my apple.

"Allah, no!" Malik retreated to behind his counter and Altair looked incredulous at me. I shrugged. He shook his head and left. I leaned across the counter and pecked Malik on the cheek. Laughing and waving at his dumb expression, I followed Altair out. A lot of my strength was back, but let me tell you, I give a whole, pathetic new definition to 'weak'. I had always been faster than stronger. It was just enough to let me vault over tables and other household objects when I ran away from…well…everything.

I looked around for Altair on the roof when I heard someone huff behind me. Turning around, there he was.

"What?" I frowned at  _his_  frown.

"You kissed Malik?" he crossed his arms across his chest.

"On the  _cheek_." I crossed my arms in defiance. No way was he being a jealous boyfriend.

"But you  _kissed_  him."

"Are you jealous of a kiss on the  _cheek_?" I narrowed my eyes at him.

"I'm not jealous. I'm just wondering what kind of woman you are, if you kiss strangers."

Ohh, that was low. And that hurt. I noticed he realized what he said, but before he could say anything else, I turned around and sauntered off in the direction I saw the main gates.

"Isis…" I heard him call. I ignored him, but heard his boots on the roof behind me. "Isis, stop." He grabbed my elbow. I could try to kick and fight, but I knew he was insanely strong, so I just opted for childish pouting and looking in the opposite direction. "I didn't mean it like that." He stepped in front of me. I looked away. "Isis." He grabbed my chin and made me look at him. I shifted my gaze to the sky, willing my tearducts to stop working before a drop of moisture fell. He sighed and hugged me to his chest, kissing the top of my head.

But a hug and a kiss wasn't going to make things okay. I know, I'm a ridiculously sensitive person.

When I didn't respond to his embrace, He released me and I continued walking. We made it to the gates in silence, and blended in a group of scholars. After they nodded to us that it was safe, we went to the stables. I had a horse of my own this time, so we galloped away.

* * *

The ride back was really stressful. I tried to concentrate on the pretty landscapes during the day, and on the stars when we rode through the first night. On the second night, we changed horses in one of the Creed's stables. But on the third night we had to stop. The horses needed rest, and so did I. I was almost going insane with how I ignored Altair every time he tried to talk to me, but he had really hurt me. Damn, it was only a kiss on a  _cheek_!

I ate only half of my share, unable to swallow, due to the constant lump in my throat. Lying back on my new blanket, I listened and watched out of the corner of my eye as Altair stretched his out next to mine and lay down. I kept staring at the sky.

"Isis, how long are you going to keep ignoring me?" he asked quietly. "I said I was sorry." He did say that. Over and over again. I felt his fingers touch mine, but not holding. As if he were asking for permission. I turned my palm upwards and let his fingers tangle with mine.

I had taken the time of my grudge to think about us. What were we now? Was I merely the cute sidekick that the hero smexed from time to time, but not his main focus? I knew that he bore a child with Maria-something-something-templar, but that wasn't until the end of the second game. Or were we really boyfriend and girlfriend? Or was I his 'property' now? If I remembered correctly, women were treated like that in these ages. I had snorted as I remembered that, making Altair look at me expectantly, but I had just kept my expression aloof, as if I didn't even acknowledge him, and kept riding.

"Isis?" he pulled me from the questions I had formed in my head. I rolled around to the left, facing him, but looked down at our hands. I started fidgeting with his glove. He grasped my hand tighter and brought it to his chest, pulling me a little off my blanket.

I couldn't keep it up anymore. I was never good at holding grudges. I raised myself on my elbows and crawled over to him, hiding my tears in his chest. He shushed me gently and stroked my hair. When I calmed down enough, I looked up at him.

"I'm really sor—" I interrupted him with a kiss. It wasn't deep, or passionate, it was just so that he would shut up. If I heard him say he was sorry one more time, I might burst into tears again. He pulled away and looked down at me. I snuggled into his warm chest and sniffled.

"I'm just very sensitive, okay?" I mumbled.

"And I was jealous." He admitted. I smiled and kissed his neck.

We drifted off to sleep until, seemingly five minutes later he woke me up. It was already light, and he informed me we would be arriving in Masyaf shortly after midday. I looked forward to a  _real_  bed instead of piles of cushions and a bath, instead of locking Altair and the Rafiq in the back room so I could wash a little by the fountain. Not that a mere  _door_  would hold them back, but still…

So I slapped Altair's horse on the butt and made it take off in a gallop, following closely behind on my own.

"What was that for?" he called over the wind.

"I want a bath!" I shouted back. Damn, it felt good talking to him again. He laughed and we continued galloping. We actually arrived at midday, according to Altair, we only took five hours.

In the fort, a novice ran up to Altair.

"The Master wishes to see you both."

I scowled. I didn't want to see Santa so soon. Following Altair, I made sure to look displeased as we entered the library.

Come in, Altair. You've done well. Three of the nine lay dead. For this you have my thanks." I resisted the urge to snort. "But do not think to rest upon your laurels. Your work has just begun."

"I'm yours to command, Master." Altair took his place on the Creed's sign and I took mine to his right, slightly hiding behind his shoulder.

"King Richard, emboldened by his victory at Acre, prepares to move south toward Jerusalem. Salah al-Din is surely aware of this. So he gathers his men before the broken citadel of Arsuf."

"Would you have me kill them both then? End their war before it begins in earnest." I sighed. Searching around for the spider I was watching last time, I found her corner empty and clean. Pouting childishly, I began reciting the game in my head, and preparing for the next cities. Yay for iron memory!

"No. To do so would scatter their forces, and subject their realm to the bloodlust of ten thousand aimless warriors. It will be many days before they meet, and while they march, they do not fight. You must concern yourself with more immediate threats. The men who pretend to govern in their absence."

"Give me names and I'll give you blood."

"So I will. Abu'l Nuquod, the wealthiest man in Damascus; Majd Addin, regent of Jersusalem; William of Montferrat, liegelord of Acre."

"What are their crimes?" I know Altair is just being kicked like a puppy right now, but he's so sexy when he acts serious like that. I suppressed a shudder.

"Greed, arrogance, the slaughter of innocents." Just like you, you old fart. "Walk amongst the people of their cities. You'll learn the secrets of their sins. Do no doubt that these men are obstacles to the peace we seek."

"Then they will die." I swooned behind his back.

"Another of your items is restored. Take it. See that it is put to good use. Return to me as each man falls, that we may better understand their intentions." I watched him release three birds. "And Altair, take care. Your recent work has likely attracted the attention of the city guard."

As Altair stepped forward to take his gloves, Al Mualim spotted me. Damn.

"Has our little seer been of good help to you?" I almost growled. I may tolerate being called Altair's, but not yours, you…you…freak.

"She has, master." Altair turned to me. "My work can be done in a single day with her help."

"Wonderful." Santa stepped from behind his desk. I have to concentrate really hard to see that greedy little smirk behind the warm smile, but it's there alright. "The women have laid out a dress for you in Altair's chambers, you should relax in the bathhouse and rest." He turned back to Altair. "You too. Take the rest of the day off and leave tomorrow."

"Thank you, Master." He stepped back and I hastily followed him out. "What's wrong?" he asked me as we entered a maze of corridors.

"Nothing." I mumbled, a bit too quickly.

"Liar."

"I don't like him." I whispered, afraid Santa might have supernatural hearing. Altair just looked sideways at me.

"Do you know something about him?" he asked quietly. I gulped. I was hoping to tell him a bit later.

"It's still a bit fuzzy." I lied. He hummed and opened a door. He led me in a big, but simple room. There was a desk by the window, a closet next to the door and…I let out a shaky breath…the most  _humongous_  orgy-sized bed I had ever laid eyes on. It wasn't even a bed, it was just a pillow, just like the ones in the bureaus, only it was big enough for three Altairs and then some.

"It's not much, bu—"

"OOF!" I let myself fall facefirst into the monster cushion, effectively drowning out Altair's voice due to the many layers of soft cotton and other smaller cushions. I felt something shift beside me on the bed. I swam out of the sea of softness and emerged to see Altair sitting beside my head, holding a white cloth up to inspect it. "What's that?"

"Your dress." He handed it to me. I sat up and took it from him. It was white. It was silk. It was too big. It looked ripped at the ends. It looked like a toga.

It was hideous.

"I'm not wearing this." I threw it in the corner and flopped backwards on the mattress. The softness was engulfing me like a black hole. Soon, I'd be asleep.

"Don't you want to try it at least?" he pulled my wrist so I was sitting again. "And take a shower before?" he laughed at my tired face and led me out the room to the bathhouse. "That's where the women go. Meet me in my room after you're done." He pointed to a door and pushed my dress in my arms.

Watching him disappear through another door, I scowled at my dress. I bet I was going to look like an albino Cousin Itt in this thing. I sighed and entered the bath. It was pretty simple, but practical. There were small shelves next to each warm bath, and two towels on the edge of each.

I stripped and sank into the water. After a few minutes, a servant girl came with oils and sponges. She lay them down on the edge of the bath and left with a small nod when I thanked her. Being the perfume whore that I was, I quickly opened all bottles and took a whiff of each, before choosing my favorite, a light flowery smell. I poured a little on a sponge and worked it in circles on my skin. After I was done, I simply laid back and dunked my hair in the water. Surfacing, I wondered how the hell was I going to wash my hair. The answer came shuffling towards me with another bottle in its hands.

"For your hair." The servant handed me the bottle. When I thanked her, she nodded again and left. I uncorked the bottle and sniffed it. Flowers again. I hummed as I washed my hair, losing myself in the moment.

"Miss." The servant was back. I raised my eyebrows at her. "your husband wants to know how long you will take to finish."

"My husband?" I nearly slipped in the tub. "Who the hell is that?"

"Altair, miss." The servant thought I was  _married_  to him. Oh right, I forgot, that's how things were done here, right?

"Well, he's not my husband." I dunked underwater again to rinse my hair and stood up from the tub.

"He says to tell you that he will be on the training grounds." I frowned at her.

"But he just took a bath!"

"We will never understand men, miss." She smiled and left. I sighed and started drying myself. Wrapping the towel around my hair, I inspected the dress. I blushed when I realized I wouldn't be wearing any kind of underwear or bra, the servant had taken my clothes away for washing. This was normal for them, right? I shrugged and put on the dress after a bit of struggling. I turned around and looked myself in a long mirror in the corner.

I was baffled. The dress wasn't bad at all. There were two silver rings, one on each of my shoulders, where the large sleeves were held. They reached down to my wrists in wide triangles, the tips of the cuffs hitting my knees. The rest of the dress was very simple, a round cleavage held layers after layers of transparent white silk, until it was a milky white and  _not_  see-through. Reaching down to my ankles, it ended in uneven points. I realized with a small smile that I kinda looked like a Wicca. A thin leather belt with a small pouch and comfy sandals complimented the image.

I grabbed a wooden comb from a nearby table, unwrapped the towel from my hair and hastily combed it back out of my face. Thanking the servant girl on the way out, I thought that I should pay Zahir a visit before I went to find my 'husband'. I scoffed at the thought.

"Such a beautiful lady shouldn't scoff like that." I turned around to see Zahir with a book in his hands. My anatomy book, to be precise. "How are you, girl?" he asked.

"I'm fine, thank you." I smiled at him and pointed to the book. "Did Malik leave that for you?"

"Even if I don't understand English, the pictures are most helpful." He nodded.

"Listen, Zahir," I walked with him to the medical wing. "When we were travelling, I got a little bit sick. Do you think you ca—"

"Altair has told me of it." Zahir interrupted me. "It was merely the heat, and maybe the cold nights, too." He handed me a small pouch. I opened it to see a few mixed herbs in it. "Drink this tea. You should be better already, after what Altair told me he gave you, but I like to be sure." I crinkled my nose as I remembered a sticky sweet taste, but nodded and tied it to my belt. "You should search for him. I heard he gets easily impatient."

"It's fine," I waved him off. "I've been seeing his face every day, don't you need help here?" I looked around and pouted at the lack of patients.

"Go rest, girl, tomorrow you leave." He laughed and saw me to the door. He pushed me out to the courtyard. "Don't forget your tea." He said and closed the door in my face. My pout only got bigger. Crossing my arms, I went back to the maze of corridors.

* * *

After a few wrong turns, I managed to find Altair's room. He was already inside, sitting by his desk, scribbling in a book. Never mind that he was shirtless.

"Where were you?" he asked without looking up.

"I was with Zahir." I kicked my sandals off and padded to him, taking the pouch from my belt. "He said to drink this tea." Altair looked inside it when I put the small bag next to him on the desk and nodded. I stepped behind him and circled my arms around his neck. "What's all this about me being your wife?" I asked, resting my chin on the top of his head. He put his quill down and caressed my arms.

"Is that what they're saying now?" he wondered. "Pay no attention to the gossip here." He raised his head and kissed under my chin.

"Mhh, you shaved." I turned my head down and rubbed my cheek softly on his smooth, dark skin, kissing it lightly, then nipping playfully at his jaw. He turned around in his chair and pulled me closer, so I was standing between his knees. He grinned and pulled me down for a proper kiss.

"Mhhm." I pulled away and looked at what he was writing. "What's that?"

"Nothing important." He turned the page over. I suppressed a smirk. The codex pages should be written only after Al Mualim's death, but I was used to stuff not happening as it should. I released him and went to the window. It displayed a nice view of the edge of the garden, and if you craned your neck a little, you could see the training grounds. Ahead, the sun was already setting. Had I taken that long in the baths? I heard him shuffle a little behind me and felt the warmth of his chest on my back as he embraced me.

"You look good." He purred in my ear. I shuddered and remembered my lack of undergarments. As if reading my thoughts, he trailed a finger down my spine. "Where is that strap you use?" I turned around to face him, confused. "I…might have…seen you…when you were washing by the fountain…" he gave me a cheeky grin.

"You were spying on me?" I playfully narrowed my eyes at him.

"Can you blame me?" he rumbled an octave lower, making me shiver. He  _knew_  he had that effect on me, and he did it on purpose. Bastard. Stupid…irritating…arrogant…selfish… _sexy_  bastard.

I marveled again at how the dying light made his eyes look red. And since I was so much smaller than him, the light reached over my head to his eyes, thus allowing me to look at the changing colors inches away from my nose. I watched them morph from red to light amber, then to brownish red, and back to dark chocolate as he moved his eyes over my face.

"What do you see?" he asked. I smiled a bit sadly.

"Why are you so uncertain of who you are?" I took his cheek in my hand and caressed that small scar under his eye.

"I…" he hesitated. "I have always been told who to be. I have never had someone to…to…" he shook his head, then tried again. "I don't know who to be besides The Assassin." This time, it was me who shook my head.

"Being an assassin is only your job. It isn't who you are."

"And who is that?" he closed his eyes and rested his forehead on mine. He touched the tip of our noses and kissed me lightly. He looked so stressed…

And I knew just how to deal with that.

"Why don't you show me who you really are?" I whispered against his lips. He opened his eyes and stared uncertainly into mine. After a small internal debate, he pulled me away from the window and closed the curtains, bathing the room in a soft shadow.

"That dress looks really good on you." He said huskily, then touched his mouth to my ear. "But I think you would look better without it."

My breath hitched in my throat. He grinned that boyish smile I was so fond of and kissed me. I tangled my fingers in his hair and pulled his face closer, feeling his arms curl around me, hugging my hips to his. Tangling my tongue with his, I relished in that inebriating taste that was too much for me, making me start to sway. I grinned around the kiss. At twenty and a half years, I had had my fair share of sex, but I had the feeling that I was in for a rough ride.

And,  _oh_ , how I loved it rough.

I noticed the hands on my hips tugging and pulling, until I felt Altair's rough skin on my own tingling one, sliding up. His grip increased a little when he reached behind me. I nipped a bit harder than necessary on his lip, making him continue. He broke the kiss to pull my dress over my head, making me shiver against the soft breeze.

Throwing the dress in a random direction, he looked down at me and released a shuddering breath. I ran my hands up his neck and pulled him down for another kiss. I felt him ghost his hands over me, mere fleeting touches across my back. I, on the other hand, scraped my nails down his neck and over his chest. I started using my fingertips to count his perfectly defined abs and started to fumble with his belt and pants.

When I finally managed to make them fall and pool around his ankles, he stepped out of the fabric and pressed himself to me. I moaned at the hardness poking my stomach.

Then I froze.

"What?" he unlatched his mouth from my neck and frowned in confusion at me.

"Um…Altair…" I put my hands on his chest and stepped back a little. He looked a bit hurt at my retreat, but I paid no attention to him. Something had just occurred to me. How the hell were we supposed to do this without…ahem…aftereffects?

"Isis, did I do something wrong?" his eyebrows were turned up in the most cute kicked puppy look ever.

"No, I…I was just wondering…um…how…how do women prevent from getting pregnant here?"

He released a sigh of relief, and stepped closer, engulfing me again in his warmth again.

"There is an herb you can ask from the women." He bent down again and spread little kisses on my collarbone. "But you can do that later, the effect will be the same."

I relaxed considerably. So much, that I heard him chuckle as he had to hold me up.

"You weren't even thinking about precautions…" I halfheartedly accused him, trying in vain to suppress my shivering at his touches and kisses.

"Can't think straight right now." He growled against my ear. I shuddered as his breath tickled my skin.

"Airhead…" I stretched my neck, silently asking for more of those small suckling kisses.

"Well, then, what are  _you_  thinking of?" he complied, nibbling occasionally.

"Nothing. Just grunts and animal noises." I heard him chuckle, and shivered at the deep sound. I was easily thrown on the bed, bouncing a little on the softness. He put his hands on either side of my head and his knees next to mine, trapping me in a cage of hot, quivering muscles.

* * *

I felt her roam her hands over my chest, feeling and groping my muscles. I smirked at her, proudly flexing my stomach a little when her hands reached it. Her long nails scraped lightly at my skin, the feathery feeling sending shivers down my spine. I lowered my head, taking one of her nipples between my teeth and rolling my tongue around it. She let out a sharp gasp, and started panting lightly. Her thin fingers buried themselves in my hair, tugging as she formed her hand into a fist. Another small hand held my shoulder, quivering.

I reluctantly released the small nub and kissed it, looking up at her. Her violent red hair was spread around her head, contrasting against the light beige sheets. Its golden stitching disappeared under her mane, but the little light that was still in the room was caught in her hair, making it look like the stitching continued up her head. Her dark brown eyes were similar to mine, but now they sparkled with something I couldn't describe, but felt myself smiling at.

Trailing small kisses along her collarbone, I moved to her shoulder, nuzzling the soft skin. I continued kissing her, building an imaginary road from her shoulder, between her breasts, down to her stomach, where I playfully dipped my tongue in her belly button. She looked down at me, caressing my head, and giggled.

Continuing slowly lower, I noticed her breathing increase. I teasingly stopped at the thin, sensitive skin right next to that tempting shadow and nibbled at it. I shifted as she seemingly unconsciously widened her thighs, and grinned at my success. I took the back of her left knee in my palm and slowly lifted it as I continued kissing a trail down her leg, stopping again at her knee, then at her ankle. I caressed her foot with my hands, but was a bit startled when it vanished in a flash, amongst mad giggles. I grinned as an evil thought came across my mind.

"No…" she warned, obviously knowing what was on my mind.

I lunged forward and started tickling her sides and feet, when they tried to kick me away. She scuttled backwards until she was leaning against the wall. I caged her between my arms and we both panted, looking each other in the eyes. Even though what we just did was extremely childish, the lust in her eyes only seemed to have increased. She looked down at our position and blushed, looking back up at me. I lowered my gaze and saw she was sprawled over the pillows, her knees resting on mine.

Sitting back on my heels, I caressed her thighs and pulled them towards me, until she was laying on her back, her legs loosely around my hips. I leaned forward and supported myself on my elbow over her, my other hand grasping her waist lightly. I looked up at her and angled my hips, until I felt her warm softness start to engulf me. I slowly pushed forward, until my hipbones dug into the insides of her thighs. I saw her eyes flutter and her mouth open in a silent gasp. She started panting, clumsily pulling at my arms, silently asking me to move.

So I complied.

Small beads of sweat appeared on her face and neck, slipping down the valley between her breasts. I kissed the small drop away and held still for a moment, admiring the quivering woman under me.

"Why did you stop?" she panted quietly, stroking the side of my face.

"I was distracted."

"By what?" she frowned in confusion. I bent down to her face and whispered against her cheek:

"You."

She laughed and turned her head to kiss me softly.

"Try to concentrate."

"I was." I closed my eyes as she kissed around my lips and along my scar. "But you're too alluring." I felt her hand slide up my back, tickling slightly along my spine, until she harshly fisted the back of my head and forced my head down, growling in my ear:

"Then concentrate  _harder_."

I hissed at the pulling in the back of my head and her breath on my skin, then slammed into her, making her slide a few inches up the bed. I kept pounding into her, until I felt the familiar heat pool on my lower stomach. I hissed loudly as she dragged her long nails across my back and bite down on my shoulder to muffle her long moans. When the velvety heat started to pulse violently around me in rhythm to her racing heart, I let go of all restrains and joined her, her name escaping my lips as my weak arms gave way and made me fall on her.

* * *

He looked me in the eyes all along, instead of closing them, or whatever my previous boyfriends did. When I felt him fill me, until some spilled out along with my own juices, I shivered, and a second orgasm washed over me as I heard him call out to me.

He collapsed on me, the sweaty warmth weighing me down and panting in my ear. I weakly raised my arm and caressed his head, breathing in his unique scent. He sluggishly raised himself and pulled out, both of us moaning a bit at the loss of each other. That was soon remedied when he lay on his side and pulled me to his chest, kissing my forehead lightly.

"We shouldn't have done this before we travel…" he mumbled into my hair.

"Why?" I followed the scars on his chest with my finger, feeling the slightly rougher texture contrast with his smooth chest.

"Riding won't be as easy tomorrow." He explained. I touched my forehead to his chest and groaned.

"Nooo…" I felt him chuckle and hug me closer. "Can't we stay one more day?"

"I'm afraid not." I felt his hands roam across my back. "Sleep." He rumbled. "Tomorrow we can ask for the herb and leave early."

I snuggled deeper into his chest and closed my eyes. The last thing I remembered before falling asleep, was another kiss on my forehead and the soft sheets being pulled over us.


	8. The Truth - Or most of it

I woke up, but kept still. I didn't even open my eyes. The smell of flowers reached my nose and I took a deep breath, reliving in my mind's eye how close I had been to the skin that emanated that smell. I heard an eagle cry outside of my window and decided it was time to wake. I opened my eyes and admired the sleeping form to my right.

Isis was laying on her back, her left hand relaxed next to her head, her little finger stroking my shoulder in her sleep. Her right hand was on her stomach, over the thin sheet that covered her. She shifted, and a rosy nipple peeked out from under the cloth. I studied it, and carefully, so as not to wake the woman, ran my palm over her breast, lightly pinching the nub between my thumb and index finger. Isis moaned in her sleep and stirred, but didn't wake.

I got off the bed and went to my wash basin, and cleaned my front of the dried juices from last night. I imagined Isis would be worse than me, so I wet a cloth, wrung it out, and tucked myself under the covers, moving slowly to not jostle the bed. I softly coaxed her legs apart and settled myself between her. Rubbing the damp cloth on her inner thighs, I admired her body in the soft morning light. When I got closer to that tempting shadow between her legs, she shivered in response to the cold water and spread her legs a little wider.

There was only so much a man could take. Poking my hand out from under the covers, I dropped the rag on my previously used pillow and returned to my makeshift hiding place between her legs. I caressed her thighs and gripped her hips lightly, bringing my face to her skin, softly kissing and licking the entrance before me. A low moan urged me to dip my tongue inside her, searching for a little magic spot I knew was in there somewhere. After not much time later spent toying around, getting excited myself, a violent shudder indicated I had found what I was looking for. I pressed my tongue down on that spot and moved it in little circles, closing my eyes at the moans that were getting louder. I released her hip from one of my hands' grasp, and started to pump myself. I felt her constrict around my tongue and remembered the feeling on my own member. Nibbling a little harder and faster, I exploded in my hand, my own moan sending vibrations deep into Isis' core, who woke up with a loud mewl that sounded much like my name.

The covers lifted and I looked up to see a disheveled Isis panting and trying to get her eyes properly open. I crawled on top of her, taking the covers with me and hid her there with me. Taking the still wet rag from my right, Isis wiped her juices off my chin and my own white mess from my stomach.

"Good morning, beautiful." I whispered after she threw the rag out of our 'tent'.

"Awesome morning." She replied, taking my chin in her hand and leaning up for a kiss. I closed my eyes and touched my lips to her soft ones. Everything about her was soft. An unpleasant thought crossed my mind. Is it wise to bed her, and feel the way I felt for her, when one day she could go back to where she came from? Then again, how  _did_  I feel about her? I took a moment to think. I felt happy, and light. I felt safe around her, even if the image of the petite woman protecting me seemed strange.

"What's wrong?" her voice shook me from my thoughts. "You look bothered."

"It's nothing." I bent down for another kiss.

"Tell me." she insisted. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No, of course not." I rested myself on my elbows and looked down at her, my hands tangled in her hair. "Allah be praised, you're perfect."

"Then what is it?" she caressed the small scar under my eye.

"I just…" I sighed. "My thoughts are confused, and all this mental strain is making me feel so tired. All I want to do is stay here underneath these covers with you all day."

"Oh, sweetie." she wrapped her arms around me and pulled me down for a hug. I buried my face in the crook of her neck, her hair tickling my face on the right side, her warm skin soothing on my left. I felt her sigh as if contemplating something. I waited for her words as I took in her flowery scent. "I wish I could tell you that everything is going to be fine, and that you don't have to worry, but what is coming is so big…"

"What do you mean?" I rose again to look down at her. She seemed to choose her words before responding.

"I'm not quite sure what is going to happen, but what I can tell you is that it's very important that you listen to your heart and trust yourself to make the right decision." She had more to say, I could see that, but we were interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Yes?" I called, annoyed.

"The master wishes to know when you will be leaving for Damascus, he wishes to speak with you before you leave." A novice's voice called.

"I will be right out." I turned back to Isis and sighed.

"So much for hiding under the covers…" she giggled and stretched. I openly stared at her body and ran my hand down her side, earning a shiver and a low moan.

"I wish there were more time, just enough to—" I was cut off by a kiss.

"But there isn't." she threw the covers away from us, both shivering at the slightly cooler air.

The master had some parting words for the both of us, but I was barely paying attention. What was so big that Isis was having difficulty in telling me? What if she was hiding something from me? I couldn't help but feel foolish, thinking she would betray me.

"Altair?" her voice shook me from my musings. She guided her horse closer to mine. "Are you all right? You've been quiet the whole trip." She looked worried.

"What? No, I was just thinking." I looked around and noticed it was well past midday. Had I really been that distracted?

"I'm here if you want to talk." She smiled under her hood. I just nodded and turned back to the road. What made me trust her so much? Was I being fooled? I brooded until darkness began to creep on us. As usual, we stopped by a secluded part of the road, and while Isis tended to the horses, I spread our blankets and prepared the bread.

"I wish there were a faster way of travelling, this is too boring." Isis turned her stick over the fire I had started.

"I'm sorry." I turned to her.

"For what? It's not like it's your fault." She laughed. I felt guilty about my thoughts. "What is it? I know there's something bothering you." She nibbled on the warm bread.

"I'm starting to have some doubts." He admitted.

"About?" Isis swallowed and put her bread down.

"About what master says. About what you are not telling me. About myself. About our relationship. Everything." He studied her face.

Isis sighed and looked him deep in the eyes.

"You're right. I am keeping information from you. But I'm afraid that if I tell you now, you will either get yourself killed because of some stupid unthought-of action, or you will kill me." She confessed. "Altair, I am deathly afraid of what will happen, and it will happen. I'm just trying to figure out a way to solve this without getting anyone killed. Or worse."

"Tell me." He demanded. Isis shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

"I'm not sure I—"

"Isis, if there are lives at stake, you have to tell me." Altair said sternly.

"Fine. Might as well get this over with." She said after a long minute of debating with herself. "Your master is working with the templars. He wants the Apple for himself."

Isis watched the man next to her with apprehension. She didn't know what to expect. A knife in the chest? A punch? Him leaving her behind in the middle of the desert? Or a laugh, brushing it off as impossible? What would she do if she died here? Was that it, or would she wake up at the bottom of her stairs at home, where it had all started? Altair's eyes flashed bright gold, and she knew he was using eagle vision. What colour was she? Did he consider her an enemy now?

"My whole life, I have trained to kill anyone to utter such words." He finally said. Isis let out a breath she was holding, closed her eyes in defeat and waited for the blow. "But I feel like I can trust you."

"What?" her eyes snapped open in disbelief. She was sure this was her end.

"You told me I should listen to what everyone had to say, then ponder n those words to make my own decisions." He raised a hand to wipe away her tears and frowned at her flinching away in fear. "I have heard enough of the men I kill, of Al Mualim, and of you." He slowed his movements to show he meant her no harm. "I believe you." He watched as her shaking body seemed to sag in relief.

Isis hadn't even noticed she was crying. When Altair raised his hand she thought to run, but who was she kidding? At his words, she allowed a shaky hand to rest upon his on her cheek.

"Thank you." She whispered.


End file.
